It seems to have been a long old winter. While it has not been cold — and indeed, January was dry for some of us — I for one have had enough of storms and terrifying gales.
Hardy plants and daffodils are bringing colour to the garden, as are flowering currants and forsythia, a true sign that spring is here. With these seasonal splashes of colour my fingers begin to itch to sow and plant. In the greenhouse and on the windowsill we can make a start on sowing summer plants but few things are more effective and cheerful than planting spring flowers in pots for an instant display. And when it comes to giving your home kerb appeal, nothing beats colourful pots by the front door.
Choosing pots
If your flowers are temporary and changed twice a year, and the container will not be full of dense shrub roots, you can use a pot of any shape. Lots of tiny pots can look delightful but the novelty of watering will soon wear off, especially as the weather warms up and plants need more water. A few large pots can look more effective and will certainly be easier to care for. The main essential is that any container has drainage holes in the base so that it does not become waterlogged. Drill holes in the base of containers without holes. If the container is very deep, fill the base with stones or rubble, place some weed fabric over this to prevent the compost falling through and fill it with compost. Most bedding plants only need 30cm of compost to grow and be healthy.
You can use imaginative containers such as tin cans, old wellies and saucepans but make sure there is a lip at the top, above the compost, so you can water easily.
Compost
Never use garden soil as this often contains weeds, seeds and diseases. Use a good-quality multipurpose compost for your temporary plants but choose John Innes No 3 for any pot that will be planted for a year or more. You can mix in controlled-release fertiliser to the compost to feed the plants throughout spring. Otherwise you will need to feed once a week with a liquid fertiliser.
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Plants
When it comes to plants, the choice is almost endless. Most of the plants in garden centres will be frost-hardy but beware; unless you are in the most sheltered of areas you cannot plant out frost-tender plants yet. These include petunias, marigolds, fuchsias and pelargoniums (geraniums).
Most of the plants for pots that are in bloom now will be on benches under cover. This is to protect them from excess rain and cold. These plants are tough but they won’t look perfect if exposed to continued wet weather. Some look lovely for a few months and then they need to be planted in the garden and a few are even destined for the compost heap. We are talking about plants that will make a big, instant show.
The exception are pansies and their smaller cousins, the violas. These are tough cookies and if you planted them in autumn they will be covered in flowers now. But you can plant them now too or use them to fill gaps in established pots. Pansies have larger flowers but viola blooms are smaller and better able to stand up to poor weather, and there are more of them on each plant. Their best quality is that they like cool conditions and they will flower from the moment you plant them and become mounds of colour and fragrance through March, into April and May until it is time to replace them with summer plants. You can keep them longer but they tend to look scruffy in the heat of July.
Among the other plants for instant colour are primroses and polyanthus, in a wide range of colours. The large, double flowers of ranunculus are also tempting, but they only flower for about a month after planting.
Senetti are relatively new to the gardening scene and resemble the plants that we used to know as cinerarias, grown as windowsill plants. Their vibrant, daisy-like flowers, which include rich electric blues and purple, look too exotic to live outside but they withstand light frost and are just the ticket for brightening patio pots in spring. What makes them valuable is that they are big and bold, bulkier than most spring flowers. Keep the old flowers picked off and they will bloom for months. But summer heat puts a stop to their display and although they can be kept for next year it is a struggle, so think of them as a spring treat.
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Of course, there are lots of spring-flowering alpines that can be used in small pots, or around the edge of large containers. Purple and blue aubrietas, white arabis, pink saxifrages and multicoloured auriculas can all be enjoyed when in bloom and moved to the garden when you replant the pots.
Don’t forget pots of bulbs. You can buy daffodils, grape hyacinths and tulips, all in bud, to squeeze in your pots between the other plants for extra pops of colour. These too can be pulled out and replanted in the garden after flowering.
Perhaps yellow and blue should be the colour scheme this spring and be the perfect display by the front door. Use blue and yellow violas, yellow daffodils and tulips with blue muscari or hyacinths.
Most of all, have fun with your combinations and bring some colour into your life.
Jobs for the week
Prune roses
Cut away dead, weak and badly placed stems, then shorten the remaining stems to just above a bud. Hard pruning results in more vigorous growth and delays flowering slightly but is useful for old and overgrown roses.
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Plant onion sets
These are available now and are easy to grow in well-prepared soil in a sunny spot. Use a trowel rather than pushing them in or they will pop out of the soil as the roots grow. Plant about 15cm apart in rows 20cm apart.
Divide snowdrops
Now they have finished blooming it is the ideal time to dig up large clumps, split them into clumps of three to five bulbs, and replant.
Feed lawns
Winter rains wash away the nitrogen in the soil, which leads to weak, yellow lawns. Encourage strong summer turf with a lawn fertiliser now.
