My flat only has one window, but Willow loves to sit by it nonetheless and watch my neighbors come and go. She also loves birds and I’ve hung up a bird feeder outside for Willow’s entertainment. Except, the birds will only feed at the feeder when Willow isn’t sitting on the windowsill, somewhat defeating the purpose of putting it there.

Q: How could I make it so that she could see the birds without them seeing her?

A: Put plants in front of the window, enough to screen her somewhat from the birds but without completely blocking the view — and, it would add some color and charm to my flat’s exterior.

Buying a window box large enough for my window (4 ft.) was outside of my budget and building one outside my resources of time, energy, and tools (I don’t have a saw). But I do have a number of flower pots and a bit of ingenuity. My parents visited this week, and my dad put up a shelf under my window when I was having a bad RA day. My mom and I went to the plant nursery and selected part-shade or part-sun suitable flowers, since the window only gets some direct sunlight in the afternoons.

Because I live in a ground-floor flat in a complex, I took some precautions to deter thieves from walking off with my flower pots. All of the pots I used for the window display have drainage holes in the bottom, through which I looped a string of chain around a stick. The ends of the chains go through holes I drilled into the shelf and are then connected to the other chains. Each pot has its own piece of chain so that I can remove the pots as needed without having to break the chain, the shelf, or a pot. Sure, a determined thief can figure out how to undo the chains to take a pot, but the average thief wants an easy steal and isn’t likely to have the tools on hand or the time to take a pot that’s been chained down.

I’ve never had much luck at keeping flowers alive for any length of time. I hope this time is an exception!