Spring sparklers: great ideas for what to buy and plant this Easter
Easter is the most important bank holiday of the gardening year when you can fill your containers and borders with plants that provide instant colour, says Graham Rice
IT’S Easter, the weekend when many people head off to a garden centre, and we can party with a restricted number of friends and family in the garden – we hope. But even if Easter gatherings are limited, adding sparkle to our Easter gardens will surely lift our spirits.
As we head into April, plants are bursting into growth all over the garden, and we can now see clearly where the winter wet and wind and cold has caused gaps in the borders. Not only that, but our containers may also look empty, tired and sad – perhaps their drainage wasn’t as good as we thought and the roots rotted. And now’s the time to do something about it.
Time to look at your borders
Garden centres are packed with plants looking their best and they’re ready to leap off the bench into your cart, into your car and then home and into your garden. So take a look at your borders, identify where the gaps are or where plants are struggling, and think about replacements that will shine now and maybe later in the year – and perhaps next year and the year after as well.
Are your containers looking tired? If they are, you could empty your containers completely. Wash out the containers, break up the old compost and use it as a mulch. Plants that are past it can go on the compost heap, while those that are still looking good can be the basis for a new planting scheme or moved into gaps in the open garden. Alternatively, use a trowel to extract the plants that disappoint and slot new plants into the spaces.
Top of the list for instant colour that lasts into summer are violas, and the Sorbet Series is available in most garden centres, in small pots or in packs of six to ten. They come in mixed colours, with an amazing 28 colours in all, and you can pick out the ones you especially like. Some individual colours, along with colour-themed blends, may be offered separately. Dazzling yet dainty, they’re small enough to slot in anywhere and light up the tightest of spaces.