Brighten up your garden for winter

Don’t let your garden go into hibernation this autumn and winter. Instead pick mixed planting in containers to add colour and life to even the darkest and shortest days of the year.

Autumn is most often associated with trees turning to soft coppers and burnished golds, yet there are flowering autumnal plants that take their colour into winter long after the trees have been laid bare – winter pansies, hebes, outdoor cyclamen, primroses and primulas give splashes of many hues.

The winter months need not be dull if you use a little imagination. Flowering evergreens, clusters of berries and blossoming bulbs in containers and pots will bring brightness into this usually quiet season.

Window boxes, which are very much back in fashion this year, are wonderful for reviving townscape blandness and adding charm to every home.

Think ahead and try planting a container to carry you through both winter and spring by under-planting bulbs in boxes of flowering and variegated evergreens.

Add wallflowers and forget-me-nots for spring flowers. The dwarf bulb varieties are ideal for containers, and can be accompanied by evergreen plants such as winter-flowering heather.