Plants don’t grow much over winter, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be used to great effect in a pot. Winter containers can be vibrant with buds opening for flowering and bulbs emerging through foliage.
Try using hardy foliage plants, like heucheras and ivy, mixed with flowering pansies, cyclamen, heathers and spring bulbs.
Find out how to plant up a container using all these elements, below.
You will need
Crocks
Multi-purpose compost
Large ceramic pot
Pink cyclamen
Spring-flowering bulbs
Ivy, Hedera helix
Purple-flowered pansies
Heuchera ‘Berry Smoothie’
Heather, Calluna vulgaris
Total time:
Step 1
Ceramic pots keep compost on the dry side, so are ideal for avoiding winter rot. Fill with general-purpose compost.
Step 2
Use foliage plants as a background to enhance the colours of bright flowering cyclamen, and plant bulbs spaced beneath the leaves.
Step 3
Place the pot in position, water in well, then sparingly over winter. Deadhead pansies for a long-flowering display.
