Lasting presence
Create interest in a container garden throughout the colder seasons with evergreens, adding splashes of colour with bedding plants and bulbs
Isabelle Palmer shows you how to create a beautiful container garden for the colder seasons
As summer fades into autumn, the garden takes on a mellow loveliness, with the light softer and flowers more muted. Yet there is still much to look forward to in the container garden. To prolong the interest in my containers, I like to provide a year-round planting structure by growing large evergreen trees and shrubs in big planters. This way, I get as much pleasure from my plants during the winter as I do in summer.
Planting large containers might seem daunting, but they have the advantage of being permanent fixtures that require less day-to-day care than more fleeting summer annuals and perennials.
Container trees and shrubs
The key when growing trees and shrubs in containers is to use the largest planters you can afford, in terms of both cost and space. A few large containers can create a small garden oasis and, kept close by the back door, are easy to access as the weather turns colder.
My go-to containers for year-round enjoyment are large galvanised metal planters, dolly tubs, terracotta pots and planting troughs. Planted with architectural trees and shrubs, these can make a strong statement with the formal lines, architectural shapes and the colours of the plants really making a strong impact.
Evergreen plants for small spaces
There is a wide range of evergreen trees and shrubs suitable for containers. Although many evergreens, such as laurel, bay and Fatsia japonica have dark, glossy green leaves, you don’t have to go without colour. If you are looking for colourful evergreen foliage, then turn to phormiums and cordylines with their brightly coloured or variegated leaves. One of my favourite phormiums is ‘Sundowner’, which has leaves striped with grey-green, soft apricot and pink. For something a little moodier, I love Phormium ‘Maori Queen’ which has bronzegreen leaves with rosy-red stripes and thin cream edges. Cordylines are just as striking, ranging from the deep reddish brown Cordyline australis ‘Red Star’ to the purple-and-pink-striped C. australis ‘Pink Star’ – they are like fireworks erupting from the container.
Just as tropical-looking are evergreen ferns, which are fantastic for adding texture and shape to a container garden. Two of my favourites are the glossy-leaved Asplenium scolopendrium, hart’s-tongue fern, and Polystichum setiferum, with its arching filigree fronds.
For evergreens with a splash of colour, I use the snowberry Symphoricarpos albus, which has clusters of snow-white berries in autumn and pink, bell-shaped flowers in summer. Another stalwart of the evergreen garden is Skimmia japonica, with cultivars available bearing buds and berries in gorgeous shades of red and pink.
Form, shape and texture
One of my favourite evergreen schemes is simplicity itself – and works in a sunny or shady corner. Planting Aucuba japonica ‘Rozannie’, or Japanese laurel, which has glossy, dark green leaves, with Euonymus japonicus ‘Green Spire’ provides a difference in foliage shape that is more than enough to create visual interest.
Shade does not have to be a problem in the garden. For a darker corner, Fatsia japonica makes a marvellous statement plant in a large dolly tub, underplanted with ferns and euphorbia. Fatsias have incredible palmate leaves that reflect the light and make a shady corner seem brighter and more verdant. Try pairing them with the copper shield fern, Dryopteris erythrosora, and Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’.
If you are looking for a softer and less formal effect, then I suggest combining flowering evergreens, such as hebes, with grasses in a pale terracotta pot. I particularly love Hebe ‘Kirkii’ with its delicate white summer flowers, planted in combination with the wispy Mexican feather grass, Stipa tenuissima.
Seasonal planting for bursts of colour
The joy of gardening with permanent plants in containers is that you can use underplanting to ring in the changes each season. Although large plants, such as date palms and phormiums, make a powerful statement all year round, you can create more of a splash by planting around the edges of the container with bulbs and bedding plants. It is best to use a narrow trowel to do this, to avoid damaging the main plant’s root system.
Crocus, grape hyacinth and fritillary bulbs planted in autumn provide cheerful colour the following spring. In summer, choose from the huge selection of bedding plants to provide further interest into the autumn. Choices include osteospermums, petunias, gazanias, marigolds, annual rudbeckias, violas and calibrachoa. Don’t forget about trailing plants like ivy and lobelia, which can spill over the edge of the container.
For winter, try the ever-reliable winter pansies, which are available in a wealth of vibrant colours, and as winter eases into spring, there are equally colourful polyanthus to lift the spirits as the sun begins to warm the garden once more.
Take your plants through the winter
Here are a few tips to ensure your plants survive the winter and provide more pleasure next year:
MOVE CONTAINERS to a sheltered spot, such as against a house wall or into a porch, unheated greenhouse or veranda, if the weather is going to be very cold at night.
TENDER SPECIMENS like sago palms may need to be brought indoors in winter. If the container is very heavy and can’t be moved, wrap it with an old blanket and protect the plant with a tent of horticultural fleece pegged to canes stuck into the compost. Remember, however, to remove the fleece during the day.
BANANA PLANTS won’t survive very cold spells, so remove the foliage once this has blackened after the first hard frost, wrap stems with chicken wire pushed into the compost and fill the gap with straw to provide insulation, ensuring this reaches the top of the stem.
REMOVE ANY DEAD, diseased or damaged stems from trees and shrubs. Cut out plain green shoots from variegated plants.
CONTAINER-GROWN TREES and shrubs won’t need much water over winter, especially dormant species. But keep an eye on evergreens and water them as required. IN
SPRING AND SUMMER, lightly trim evergreen shrubs such as box, privet and bay with topiary shears. Use a pair of secateurs for tougher stems.
GIVE THE PLANTS their last trim in late summer to leave them looking neat over winter.
PLANT SPRING BULBS in new containers or as an underplanting for permanent specimens and look forward to enjoying these next year.
TO PUT BULBS to bed for the winter, remove the flowers once they have faded (to stop the plant setting seed) and as the leaves start to die back, water and feed the plants to promote a good display of flowers the following year.
SOME BULBS can be left in their pots over winter, but you will need to lift dahlia tubers, for example, and store them in a cool, dry place for planting out again next year.
REMOVE DEAD LEAVES and spent flowers from permanent plants and from the compost.