Hor ticultural aide memoire No. 41: Plant winter containers

Pots, baskets and mangers can be planted now with decorative plant combinations to look good all winter. Useful evergreens include winter-flowering heathers and ivies, which can trail about pleasantly. Ferns of modest proportions confer a certain Classical sobriety. All this has to last for months, so ensure that form and foliage colour harmonise. A little more floral action can be introduced in early spring by the inclusion of a few snowdrops or a crocus such as Blue Pearl, but winter plantings are essentially quiet and harmonious, like the plumage of British birds. Explosions of colour come with spring plantings.

SCD