MINI PROJECT Pots of colour
It’s not too late to make a trolley dash to your local garden centre. Spring bulbs – in pots and trays – will be flowering now and you can create instant containers in boiled-sweet primary colours to brighten up the back garden. h At the end of March, hyacinths, narcissus, scillas, daffodils, tulips, anemones, crocus, muscari, primulas, forget-me-nots, violas and leucojum will be in full swing. For maximum impact, you can go one of two ways: the first is to plant one variety, tightly, en masse to create a strong block of colour; the second is to choose three different flowers or varieties and play them off against each other. h Wallflowers are also making their first spring appearance; trays of bedding wallflowers will bring scent and colour to spring pots, but the perennial kind will flower right through summer. h For a blast of pinks and purples try these long-lived perennials: Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’ and
Erysimum ‘Winter Joy’; or if you want eggy yellows, Erysimum ‘Winter Light’ is endlessly cheery. h Check out Sarah Raven’s sure-fire colour combinations for choosing plants for pots. She often starts with one showstopping flower, blended with another bloom of the same colour but not as large or showy, set off by a third, dazzlingly different shade. Combinations such as the dark-plum tulip ‘Queen of Night’, mixed with a purple pansy and the clashing orange-green tulip ‘Artist’ work well; or try two tones of blue muscari dotted with a dwarf daffodil. h For maximum impact, group together clusters of containers of different heights and widths, but in the same material (eg. terracotta or zinc).