Thanks Kay, this sounds like a good idea. Getting something spiky
might also scare off the local cats and foxes who like to use my
containers as litter trays, and often dig up my plants and bulbs while
they're at it!

Kay Easton wrote in message ...

You could try various cacti and succulents - say aloes for spiky
attractive leaves and possibly spikes of orange flowers, trailing grey
leaved crassulas. These aren't normally hardy, but I have a window box
on an E wall in Leeds, window of a very marginally heated toilet, and
aloe and echeveria have lived there happily for several years. In
London, you stand an even better chance.

Some cacti will take surprisingly low temperatures if they can be kept
bone dry.