Winter Planting for Pots & Containers

Planting a few containers for winter keeps the garden looking cared for and gives you something to enjoy every day. Beside the front door, along a path or outside a window you look through every day, they bring colour and shape to the places you notice most.

The best displays don’t depend on flowers alone. Evergreen leaves, grasses and small shrubs can provide a brilliant framework, with winter flowers adding interest as the season progresses. Choose plants that enjoy similar conditions and you can put together a display that looks good for months, without too much fuss or attention.

START WITH THE POSITION

Before you choose the plants, think about where you want the finished container to sit. A pot beside the front door needs to look good at close quarters while one viewed from indoors may need a stronger shape or a simple combination of colours to make more impact from a distance.

Check how much light the position receives in winter and whether it is exposed to wind or sheltered from rain - a porch may offer protection from frost, but pots beneath it will need watering.

Put larger containers in place before filling them and if you’re arranging several together, leave enough room to move comfortably past them - you won’t be able to move them easily once they’re planted up!

Choose a planter for more than one season

A well-chosen container earns its place throughout the year. Look for proportions that suit the setting, enough depth for the roots and drainage holes that allow winter rain to escape.

The understated finish of zinc planters works well with both evergreen foliage and seasonal flowers. An RHS Heritage Zinc Planter can give a small shrub a permanent position beside an entrance, with the planting around it changed through the year. A Regency Zinc Trough Planter gives you room to repeat plants along its length for a contemporary looking display.

Agriframes ZInc Planters have drainage holes and are slightly raised to help water drain freely but you may want to sit them on bricks or pot feet in very wet weather and remove saucers or trays that could leave the compost waterlogged in the winter.

Build the display around foliage

Start with one plant that gives the arrangement its shape: a compact evergreen shrub, an upright carex or a generous clump of heuchera. Add flowering plants around it, keeping the colour palette fairly restrained.

Repeating a plant often gives a better result than a mad mix of one of everything. White cyclamen against dark green leaves, or burgundy violas beside bronze carex, can be enough and actually give you more impact than a riot of colour.

Plants grow slowly in winter, so go for something good-sized to start off with, rather than relying on growth to fill large gaps. Choose fresh, peat-free compost to suit the planting, and check that all the plants in a mixed container will get along in terms of what nutrients or pH balance they like.

Plants worth making room for

Pansies and violas for dependable colour 

Winter-flowering pansies and violas are useful for bringing colour to the front of a container, where their flowers can be seen easily. Choose a single shade for a simple display, or combine two colours that work with the surrounding foliage.

They flower most freely during milder spells and (understandably!) slow down in cold weather, although they’re not afraid to pop the heads up out of the snow on a sunny morning. Regular deadheading keeps everything looking tidy and encourages more flowers.

Hardy cyclamen for smaller pots

Cyclamen coum is a good choice for flowers in winter and early spring, with rounded leaves that are part of the display in their own right between the flowering periods. Plant it where you can see the detail: in a pot beside a step or among other containers near the house will give you real joy.

Cyclamen hederifolium flowers mainly in autumn, but its patterned foliage continues to earn it’s place through winter. Check labels when buying, as the larger-flowered cyclamen sold for seasonal displays are less hardy and not really suited to long term outdoor life.

Winter heather for a full display

Winter-flowering heathers bring colour without needing much height - ook for Erica carnea or Erica × darleyensis.

Several plants of the same variety make a dramatic display in a wide pot or trough. They also work well alongside glossy evergreens giving a nice textural contrast to larger leaves.

Carex and heuchera for lasting interest

Foliage does much of the hard work in a winter container and grasses can work really well. Evergreen carex adds an arching shape, while heucheras has broader leaves in shades ranging from green to deep plum.

Choose them for the effect you want to create. Bronze foliage brings warmth to a planting scheme; green and cream variegation can help a darker corner look brighter.

Skimmia for structure

Skimmia is particularly useful when you want a container to look established from the start. Its evergreen leaves give the planting substance, while ‘Rubella’, a male variety, is grown for its clusters of red buds through winter before they open in spring - give it a sheltered position in partial shade and it will perform well for months.

Hellebores for flowers close to the house

Hellebores deserve a position where you pass them regularly and because their heads tend to face downwards, they work really well in a tall container which lifts them up to be enjoyed more easily. Helleborus niger, the Christmas Rose, has white flowers, while other hellebores come in pinks, dark reds and even lime green, to  extend the flowering season into late winter and spring.

Keep the surrounding planting simple so the flowers remain easy to see and after display has finished you can move the plants into the garden where they will spread happily, rewarding you with blankets of colour in the years to come.

Evergreen shrubs for a longer-term display

If you prefer to refresh part of a container rather than replant it completely, a compact evergreen shrub makes a useful starting point.

Pittosporum will give you green or variegated foliage on deep red stems which is great for cutting and adding to seasonal arrangement - it needs shelter so a good choice for a milder spot.

Another popular option is Viburnum tinus which carries blue/black berries and creamy white flowers on glossy dark green foliage - it needs a generous pot as they can get pretty big and may need planting out in the border eventually.

Clipped evergreens give winter containers a lovely formality when there is less planting around them -  yew cones can mark an entrance, while a pair of rounded shrubs brings balance to either side of a doorway. Box balls are a familiar choice, although problems with box blight and box tree caterpillar make alternatives such as clipped yew worth considering instead.. Give them a generous pot and they can remain in place through the seasons, with flowers changed around the base.

Bring smaller pots into view

A collection of smaller pots gives you flexibility - you can move flowering plants to the front and replace individual pots as their display finishes.

An Elegance Tiered Plant Stand brings these plants closer to eye level and makes good use of a limited footprint - ideal if you have  a courtyard or terrace. Repeat a few plants or pot styles to give the arrangement a sense of order.

If you want to continue the seasonal planting into a nearby border, the Basket Obelisk is a clever raise a planting basket above the surrounding plants. It is designed to be installed directly into the ground with a liner and compost for the basket.

A little attention through winter

Winter containers need less regular care than summer displays, but they still warrant a quick check when you’re outside.

Feel the compost, particularly in sheltered spots where rain may not reach -it may be much drier than you’d imagine. Remove faded flowers and damaged leaves, and keep drainage holes clear.

During really bad weather, move vulnerable plants to a more sheltered position if you can - Easy Fleece Jackets can give useful extra protection during cold spells.

You’ll find more seasonal jobs in our November gardening checklist.

Start where you’ll enjoy it most

One well-planted container in the right place can make a real difference. Start beside the door or somewhere you can see from indoors, choose plants you enjoy, and build from there. As spring arrives, you can refresh the flowers around established foliage or move plants into the borders, making room for the next display.