Brighten up the front door

By Margaret Griffin

We often think our front door area has lost its wow factor at this time of the year, so it’s time to spruce up our pots and containers.

Colourful winter pot displays are worth their weight in gold during the colder months, when beds and borders are looking a tad bare. Flowers, evergreen foliage, winter plants and colourful stems all have their part to play, lifting the spirits on even the darkest of days.

Here at Griffins, we have new arrivals every week of seasonal plants, trees and shrubs. Here are a few that will look love in you pots at the front door or patio:

This salix Hakuro-Nishiki, also known as Flamingo Willow, is an ornamental small tree which has been trained into a standard (lollipop) shape with a braided stem. This low-maintenance compact tree is ideal for displaying in patio containers, with an upright main stem topped with colourful pink-tinged variegated foliage. It provides a long season of interest from spring onwards, when new foliage emerges bright pink and then matures to cream and green. It is very easy to grow and thrives in most conditions. This is very popular under planted with snowdrops and white pansies.

Also known as tabletop hydrangeas, they will brighten up your pots straight away. Many gardeners face the dilemma of how to make a small space beautiful, colourful, and interesting. These beautiful, long-blooming shrubs provide easy-care solutions for gardening in tight spaces. Dwarf hydrangeas are usually bushy and well-shaped, and don't require regular pruning, but you might want to give a plant a trim to improve its appearance or remove damaged branches.

This is a beautiful dwarf tree which makes a wonderful feature tree for home gardens. It forms a dome shape of waterfall foliage whilst bright-golden furry catkins liven things up in the spring time. It is ideal for growing in the ground or in containers that can be moved into position on a patio, terrace or even a balcony.

I love this at the front door in winter with horse tail battery lights entwined around the branches.

You can recognise this plant by the extraordinary contrast between the petals’ white base and the vibrant colour at the tip of the flower. This plant is ideal for both indoors or outdoors.

As with all cyclamen, when planting outdoors, plant them a little high with lots and lots of grit around the base. Did you know that you can purify the air of your home with cyclamen plants? The leaves naturally release water vapour, which improves the humidity of your room.

If you would like one of our design team to create a colourful creation for your front door, bring in your old pots or an image of your front door to our team here at Griffins of Dripsey.

Kids’ Gardening Club: Book your young enthusiastic gardener into Griffins Slug Club this Saturday 5 October. For full details and to book go to griffinsgardencentre.ie.