Colourful flowers all around

With winter coming upon us, we are all looking at our pots and beds wondering how to add instant colour to them. Here are a few of the best to instantly add colour that will last all winter long.

Don’t let the garden go bare and dormant over the cold months. These winter flowering plants will brighten up your pots and flower borders.

Cyclamen with a difference

Windfall cyclamen, the variety we grow here on our nursery is a much hardier variety and will withstand wetter conditions. Yet saying that, how you plant them will dictate how long they will last for you. The most important thing is that they dislike wet conditions so you will need to make your soil very free draining. This will be achieved by adding grit or perlite to your soil or compost. It’s the area in contact with the roots that you need to have the grit as this will keep the roots happy. The other stumbling block is people have a tendency to plant cyclamen too deep.

The cyclamen tuber should be peeping above ground. This will also help to ensure it doesn't become too wet.

Pansies and violas

Pansies, along with their viola cousins, pop up their cheery little faces in autumn to spruce up hibernating gardens. Pansies are perfect for cool-season containers, and they’re also great for tucking into beds along with spring bulbs such as daffodils and tulips.

Unlike most other flowering annuals, pansies thrive in cool weather. They should be planted now or early spring and enjoyed until summer. Pansies and violas come in a variety of colours and sizes, so have fun choosing your favourites! The trailing pansy is ideal for winter hanging baskets wonderful with heathers and trailing ivy.

Cineraria

A beautiful seasonal display in winter is a wonderful sight to behold, and cineraria give that perfect silvery, frosty look. Could it be the hardiest plant of all time? It's certainly the hardiest I have ever come across and it will happily thrive in the coldest of conditions! To keep cineraria looking its best, try to ensure that they are very dry and use plenty of horticultural grit.

Good enough to eat!

Ornamental cabbages are the coolest heads in town. For performance in cool weather, colour, texture and fantastic container displays, few plants can compare to the amazing ornamental cabbages and kales. These cabbages kept their colour from September until February last year.

Tip

Keep dry and use plenty of horticultural grit and Westland Slow Release Fertiliser. Always tilt your ornamental cabbage when planting to ensure water runs off them.

All the above combined together can create an instant colourful container that will thrive right through to spring. These are our most popular combinations at this time of the year.

Griffins’ design team will create a combination to suit your pots and containers so just bring in the pots and we can make them up for your or email pictures to info@griffinsgardencentre.ie.

Have you booked your visit to see Santa in his cottage at Griffins? Book at griffinsgardencentre.ie.