Summer and Winter Planting Advice

Hello everyone, im just here to get some advice on planting.

I'm wanting to have half barrel wooden planters in my front garden.

I'm wanting to put into each planter winter bulbs and summer seeds so i get flowers all year round.

The winter bulbs i have been looking at are Bluebells, Snowdrops, Aconites, Crocus and then mixed field/meadow flower seeds for summer.

Any advice,tips,do's and don'ts would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks Richard 27 from Wakefield.

I would break this up into 3 seasons, the winter bulbs will be fine but I would replace the meadow flowers with summer bedding, probably pelargoniums or begonias that need limited watering. I would then buy pansies/violas to replace the bedding in September to go through till the bulbs appear.

I would not touch the meadow mix, they look great on a large scale but in a container would look messy.

i'd go for an early daff, white muscari bulbs, allium 'purple sensation' bulbs, maybe some drumstick alliums or chives, add a heuchera in for permanent foliage (you can plant em in the garden if they get too big after a few years) and then plant an empty pot or two in the top - this you can fill with tender bedding such as pelargoniums or petunias for summer and then replace them with violas and maybe a teensy skimmia come autumn/winter. any major gaps can be filled with houseleeks. I'd advise watering on some vine weevil killer after planting and again come May.

Hello, I love muscari, they are really good at multiplying to the point that some would consider them invasive, but I like that.

On a past thread someone, I think,suggested some pink tulips underplanted with these, and this thought has stayed with me. Having grown alliums for the first time I'm not a fan of them- however this does depend on personnal taste.

For me I would think that snowdrops and bluebells would do better in the ground but I have no experience of growing them in a container.

The daffs that I grew in pots definately did better in pots than those in the ground this year. Crocus looked lovely too.