This is the perfect time to plant up pots to provide both winter and spring cheer. It can take just ten minutes to achieve a colourful container which will bring uplifting appeal for several months from now until late spring. Take a ‘layered approach’ and put tulips in the bottom of the pot; daffodils in the middle and early crocus on the top. Finish your pots with some winter pansies in bright colours and a mulch of grit or fine gravel.
You’ll be surprised how heartening the sight of gently nodding pansy heads can be throughout autumn and winter – just keep dead-heading and they should continue to flower. In early spring you can either remove the plants to lend space to the emerging bulbs or give them a light prune – clip down to about 5cm from the ground and they will reward you by growing bushy and strong and sending up some more cheerful flowers.
Recommended bulbs: Tulips: ‘Red Hunter’ (scarlet); ‘Daydream’ (orange); Calimero (double yellow). Daffodil ‘Cheerfulness White’; Narcissus ‘New Baby’; Narcissus ‘Kokopelli’. Crocus: ‘Ruby Giant’ (purple); ‘Cream Beauty’ (cream).
Tip provided by Perfect Plants Ltd: The online garden store: www.perfectplants.co.uk. Deliveries available across the whole of the UK including Highlands & Islands.
