Patio pot pleasers

Put life back i nto your plot

BRING your sleeping garden to life by bedecking your patio with pots of spring blooms.

The giant buttercup blooms of Ranunculus asiaticus are already in the shops and look stunning as single colours, such as all white, in modern tapered square ceramic or metal pots.

Alternatively, combine vibrantly coloured petal-packed blooms in red, pink, orange and yellow to give yourself a warmer “tropical” outlook.

Pinks, purples and blues combined give the patio a soft, romantic feel.

Lenten roses, Dutch crocus, snakeshead fritillary, muscari, scilla and scented hyacinths – along with trailing ivy – make up stylish containers that will shine when the sun does.

Go for the white varieties for a gorgeous glow on moonlit nights.

For a country style, fill window boxes or pots with cottage garden staples such as aquilegia and primroses, drumstick primulas and veronica.

To get maximum impact pack them tight, giving no room to expand – then when the show is over plant them out.

Perfect

Pots and shallow terracotta bowls look great filled with pincushion bellis daisies in pink, white or red, perfect for tables, sills and tops of walls.

The pom-pom blooms of bellis also make great edging around the rim of large pots planted with a spring flowering shrub such as Magnolia stellata.

They look especially good with forget-me-nots, which come in pink and white as well as pale blue.

Pansies and violas – you’ll find them in almost every colour – are perfect in British gardens. Plant now in shallow pots on their own or add them to mixed pots and baskets.

Or be creative and stack three different size pots of compost, filling the gaps around the rim and the top pot to make a flower tower.

For an eye-catching display, arrange pansies with “faces” forward, with trailing variegated ivy or silver thyme in between to soften the edge.

Tulips and daffodils are another show- stopping pairing and can be bought in bud to create instant displays on your patio, deck and porch. Fiery red tulips combine well with vibrant yellow, to lend warmth to pots of pastel-shade plants.