We gaze with astonishment at the vine-clad buildings, the riotous window boxes, the bobbing pastel fishing boats and the vast medieval fortress at the centre of town.

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Nudged up in the northeast of Switzerland, walled by mountains, the town and the surrounding hamlets abound with prim chalets, their window boxes overflowing in riotous reds and pinks.

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He helps produce about 60 varieties, starting with a dark green bud called "Mighty Mite, " a plant for urban window boxes that grows to the size and shape of a corn dog.

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In the window boxes, neglected geraniums thirsted.

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On Andy Beauchamp's street in the notoriously irritable south London neighborhood of Peckham, for example, almost every single doorstep is dressed with flower-filled planters and over-flowing window boxes after Beauchamp decided one day to start sticking plants in front of his neighbors' homes.

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Not in a mimsy, cottages-and-window-boxes kind of way, but with a craggy handsomeness that stops you in your tracks.

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When you log on to Chatroulette.com, you see a sparse white window with two boxes.

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Flat 5 Madrid has a fresh, clean-lined look with bright colours, flatscreen TVs, free wi-fi and flower boxes on the window sills.

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