ONLY THE STRONGEST WILL SURVIVE
PLANTING winter containers requires a knack if you want displays to do well instead of merely petering out.
The first problem to overcome is the weather. Truly hardy plants are a must so we’re looking at winter bedding such as ornamental cabbages and kales and winter-flowering pansies but they do need a very wel-sheltered spot.
They will fare best close to the house, on the patio or beside the front or back doors. If even your “best” spots tend to be rather windy then abandon winter bedding in favour of more rugged plants.
Tough evergreens such as ivies, potted topiary and small evergreen shrubs such as skimmia, Viburnum tinus, Fatsia japonica and euonymus will do best.
For flowers, winter heathers are as good as you will get. These are also going to cope far better than winter bedding if we happen to have another cold winter so be sure to take a look at the long-range weather forecast before parting with your money.
When it comes to planting, winter containers tend to suffer the opposite problems from the summer sort – excess moisture.
With pots, tubs and troughs, start by putting an inch of coarse drainage material in the base – bits of broken clay flowerpots, stones out of the garden, or some gravel. Fill the container with multipurpose compost and plant it as usual, then stand the finished container up on bricks or “pot feet” so rainwater can run off.
Hanging baskets are the biggest problem in winter.
Being raised they are exposed to cold winds so unless you have a very sheltered spot or you can keep them under a carport or in a porch, it is probably best to put baskets away for the winter and stick to ground-level displays.
Good winter basket plants include winter heathers, Gaultheria procumbens (a creeping evergreen with big red berries) and ivies, which all look good together. You could also use evergreen alpines like sempervivums (houseleeks) and silver-encrusted saxifrages, planting them up through the sides of a wire hanging basket to make a handsome sphere.
When planting winter hanging baskets, aim for maximum drainage, so avoid composts containing water-absorbent granules. Winter containers may also need occasional watering but no extra fertiliser or regular feeding is needed since it just encourages soft, weak growth that’s easily killed by cold, wet weather.