Winter window boxes

[goldpendant]

My gorgeous window boxes have finally had it and I'd like to re do them with something lovely and leafy to see us through to April/May.

There's some thyme in there already which I might leave but the rest needs to go.

I'm a total novice and not green fingered - what can I plant that will survive winter in part sun?

I'd like greens/whites only. Ivy? Does anything flower this time of year?

Heathers, cyclamen underplanted with crocus or small alliums.

I've got a grass, white hellebore, skimmia and a heuchera in mine! Looks nice

Can anyone show any pics?

Here you go. Not actually a window box, but would look just as good in one! And the heuchera come in lots of leaf colours of you don't want red.

These are my winter hanging baskets, really cheap to do, I did three for £10!

You could get all those plants in white - sorry I didn’t see that.

@DookofBust I can see Heather and pansies what are the other plants please?

I think the thing in between the pansies is a dianthus variety sandgrown but I cant quite remember, it looks like it to me. There are violas in there too.

Love these!

DookofBust can you remember where you got your basket? It's quite unusual

No, sorry I can’t remember anything about them Gareth, they are about 15 years old.

They look good as new, the black coating usually weathers on mine after a few years!

I'll see if I can find something similar online - I like the extra structure it gives!

I think they are called ‘Spanish’ or ‘Andalusian’ from memory - try Tom Chambers.

Funny how I couldn’t remember a thing earlier!

Found them, thank you! Does the top part come away on yours or do you just reach in and plant?

They make a nice change from the usual chains.

I've just replaced all my hanging baskets with black easyfill ones oops!

No mine doesn’t come apart.

If you are starting from scratch, I would lasagne plant bulbs (planting layers of bulbs) that will flower at different times in the spring - eg white snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils/narcissi, hyacinths, tulips, irises. Dwarf varieties would be best as you won't be able to plant very deeply in a window box so larger varieties might be unstable. Then I would plant white winter violas on top to flower now. You could plant ivy on top but if you are lasagne planting, you will probably want to take the bulbs out to store before you replant for the summer so it's easier to have annuals on top.

If you want to make them look more interesting in the meantime, we add glittery twigs (the kind you put in flower arrangements) at Christmas.