| WINTER
WINDOW BOXES
10
September 2007
 Now
is a good time to visit garden centres and nurseries
looking for suitable plants to replace the summer
bedding in containers and hanging baskets. By
the end of September they will be looking tired
with few flowers. When you are there pick up
some multi purpose compost to replace the existing
which will be exhausted.
When it comes time to replant put the chopped
up plants and the old compost into the compost
heap.
 With
the right selection of plants you will have
colourful containers from late autumn through
to spring. If you are going to use winter bedding
such as polyanthus and pansies they will need
the same attention to dead heading as the summer
flowering plants.
The show can be strengthened by including dwarf
bulbs such as crocus, snowdrops, winter aconites,
miniature daffodils and dwarf tulips. They will
flower from early in the year through until
spring. Inserting crocus bulbs through the side
of a hanging basket will brighten the display.
Plants should be hardy and capable of withstanding
rain and frost. Heathers are ideal and there
are hundreds of late autumn, winter and early
spring flowering varieties many of them with
attractively coloured foliage. Varieties such
as Erica ‘Springwood White’ and
E. ‘Springwood Pink’ will trail
down the side with each stem plastered with
tiny flowers.
They will be available in the spring for planting
out in the garden for continued flower in future
years.
 Small
leafed ivies such as Hedera helix ‘Glacier’
may be planted around the edge of the container
to trail down. Again they have a life after
the basket is emptied in spring. Gaultheria
procumbens has small, red tinged, evergreen
leaves with bright red berries during winter.
It is possible to use small plants of large
shrubs. Skimmia with its deep red berries and
pieris with young red leaves are usually available
for container growing. At the end of the winter
they may be planted out in the garden bearing
in mind that they will eventually become large
plants.
If you want to be different plant a basket with
edible plants. Thyme and parsley are attractive
and a small plant of sage will prove useful
around Christmas.
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