Plan your summer display
What better way to cheer yourself up during one of the gloomiest months of the year than by starting to plan a long season of colour for your garden?
It might seem too early to be thinking ahead to summer, but getting your planting sorted is a worthwhile resolution to set yourself this year.
The key to packing the summer months with colour is growing as wide a mix of plants as possible. Have a look at summer-flowering bulbs such as gladioli, dahlias, cannas and begonias. Annuals will flower from June to the first frosts, and there are some perennials that – if sown early enough – will flower in their first year.
Tender perennials like dahlias and cannas will be available to order now from specialist plant websites. Get your orders in sooner rather than later as the most popular varieties can sell out quickly! These can be potted up in February and March and kept in a frost-free place until mid-may when they can be planted outdoors.