GARDENING

A s the days get shorter and colder, and the garden retreats into winter, things can get a little dull. Enter the pansy – a little plant that packs a big colour punch right through winter. At this time of the year, I make the most of my sun-drenched front porch, which is an ideal spot to grow annuals. As there’s little soil available, pots are the answer.

If your garden is mainly dormant throughout winter but has a small sunny spot, indulge in annual winter flower colour to brighten up the colder months.

I’ve filled a mix of large terracotta and glazed pots with dwarf daffodils and tulips overplanted with pansies, a cool-season annual that does well in containers. There are pansies in every colour (white, yellow, orange, burgundy, rose and purple to almost black) and in every size from tiny violas to the large pansy varieties including Swiss Giant. Some trail (great in hanging baskets or to spill over the edge of pots) while others are compact. Pansy flowers are also single or doubled (often called ruffled) and some are perfumed (pansies are actually part of the violet clan).

Recent developments in pansies have concentrated on breeding flowers that stand above the foliage, don’t droop or face downwards and have strongly marked petals (those cute kitten faces that make the humble pansy so appealing).

This huge choice and the constant release of new forms means making a selection can be difficult. This year I’ve chosen an all-orange pansy called ‘Pure Orange’ to give a warm, sunny burst of colour, along with ‘Berry Big’, a pansy billed as having “enormous” flowers in tones of rose, cream, blueberry and purple with strongly marked faces.

To add instant colour, I also invested in several advanced pots already in flower. With regular additions of liquid fertiliser (every 10-14 days) and daily watering, I am looking forward to an abundance of pansy flowers within two months and have increasing interest as the bulbs appear and begin to flower in late winter.

OTHER FLOWER CHOICES

Pansies are hard to beat for winter and spring flowers but there are other plants that bloom in containers while the season is cold. For warm, sunny positions there are compact snapdragons, cinerarias and polyanthus (giant primroses in yellow, blue, red and white). In shadier positions, choose primulas (Primula malacoides), which have graceful spires or either white or purple flowers and thrive even on the south side of a wall. This annual self seeds in gardens so once planted, usually pops up each autumn in shaded parts of the garden – even between paving.

BEST POTTING MIX

A critical part of growing potted annuals lies in the potting mix. A poor potting mix can lead to disappointment as plants fail to grow and thrive. Potting mixes are made from composted bark and are different in structure from soils or compost. They are designed to provide air, moisture and support to plant roots while also allowing water to flow through. Potting mixes provide the basic nutrients for plant growth (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) with some designed to suit the special needs of a range of garden plants.

For good growth, potting mixes need to be well composted and should meet the Australian Standard for potting mixes (AS 3743). Those that meet the standard are identified by a series of ticks on the packaging. Mixes can be either regular (shown by black ticks) or premium (shown by red ticks). Premium potting mix contains slow-release fertiliser to sustain the potted plant for three months without additional feeding and are ideal to use for potted annuals.