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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

What winter flowering plants are good for pots and is it too late to plant any?

17 replies

ThatDirection · 22/09/2020 09:47

Working from home I've taken unexpected joy from looking out at the changing colours of the garden over spring and summer. I'm worried it's all going to come to a cracking end with only dead things and some boring evergreen shrubs to look at. What could I plant for the winter months? Have I left it too late?

Failing that, is there an easy to care for indoor plant I could buy? I don't have any indoor plants.

OP posts:
Mintjulia · 22/09/2020 09:54

There are winter flower shrubs - viburnum fragments and winter sweet are the two I have. You could buy one each and put them in pots with some bulbs outside the Kitchen door.

Or maybe plant some winter bedding if you have a sheltered sunny corner.

AdaColeman · 22/09/2020 09:57

Winter pansies with variegated ivy?
Plant some spring bulbs now, tulips daffodils etc.
Amaryllis make a fab show.

LovingLola · 22/09/2020 09:59

Cyclamens are great

giletrouge · 22/09/2020 09:59

Yes get yourself some indoor plants! What kind might you want? Flowers, foliage, fern or palm like - definitely cheers up winter.

FubsyRanbler · 22/09/2020 10:00

Hellebores do well in pots, I’ve banded mine with copper to keep off the slugs and they make a great show throughout winter.

ThatDirection · 22/09/2020 10:05

Ooh - loads of suggestipnsxaldreay. Thank you.

I like the idea of a hanging plant indoors in the room I work as there's no floor space for one. A plant could fit in the hallway though. Just greenery is needed for indoors, flowers or colour for outside.

There are a lot of shrubs in the garden but
nothing with winter interest. I have a cluster of pots on the patio which have flowered beautifully, I could move some others into that space if I know what to put in them.

Bulbs. I've never l planted bulbs Blush

OP posts:
giletrouge · 22/09/2020 10:22

If you want a hanging indoor plant I'd probably go for one of the indoor ferns; Boston, bird's nest, maidenhair. Or an ivy, or a Christmas cactus (and you'll get flowers too!)
Just for fun and to entice you to consider indoor flowers, here's some of mine, taken just now to show you how lovely they are looking. Smile

What winter flowering plants are good for pots and is it too late to plant any?
What winter flowering plants are good for pots and is it too late to plant any?
What winter flowering plants are good for pots and is it too late to plant any?
ThatDirection · 22/09/2020 10:27

Purple and red flowers are my favourites. I love those. Thank you. Please tell me about how much light and water they need.

OP posts:
viques · 22/09/2020 10:35

Bulbs are great. Stick to the easy ones like daffodils, small tulips ,crocus, , grape hyacinths, they are virtually foolproof (though watch out for squirrels).

Think about scale, for normal sized garden pots I would look for smaller varieties that are not going to grow too tall or be top heavy. Check the back of the packet and compare sizes. You will also see that some flower early, say January, whereas some might not be expected to flower until April, if you are canny you can plant bulbs now so you have flowers from January through to April, or even later for some of the bigger tulips. Amazing things bulbs!

Use a normal compost, check that there is good drainage by putting broken crocks in the bottom of the pot. You can be clever and layer up the different bulbs so you get a succession of flowering, lots of how tos on you tube, look out for the Sarah Raven ones. Plant the bulbs two to three times their own height in depth, pointy side up. You can put things on top like pansies or small leaved ivy to give you some interest while you wait for the bulbs to pop up.

When they have finished flowering don't whatever you do cut off the leaves to make them look tidy, take off the flower head but leave the leaves because they are powering the bulb for next year.

Talking about putting crocks in pots I had a wistful moment last week , I was potting something and used a shard of an old plate that must have been the last of my first ever proper set of crockery I bought from Habitat back in the day when my skirts were short and my hair long. Brought back lots of memories. RIP Terence Conran .

giletrouge · 22/09/2020 10:51

They are streptocarpuses - huge variety of colours and flower markings. I grow them both because they're lovely and they flower for months and because they are mostly really easy. I'm glad you like them!
Supposed not to like full sun or overwatering but in truth I find them pretty tolerant.
These people are specialists - I buy from them but they are also the people who supply garden centres so if you buy a strep in the UK it probably came from them!
Some varieties have very long leaves so would look good hanging - that red one of mine is one, it's variety 'Susan'. And it's been one of my best plants as it happens (and my name is Susan!)

www.dibleys-shop.com/#

giletrouge · 22/09/2020 11:07

Oh dear, they've got a sale on and I must not buy any more plants I've got no room! Just managed to repot and divide and get rid of some recently. Help! Grin

wowfudge · 22/09/2020 11:23

Winter honeysuckle? I've got a large pot with it trained up a support.

Stompythedinosaur · 22/09/2020 12:17

I'm just putting in some winter pansies and getting some cyclamen for the window sill.

Pop some snowdrop and crocus bulbs it - it's such a lovely surprise when they pop up at the end of winter.

Stompythedinosaur · 22/09/2020 12:18

I also have a potted witch hazel and am debating a Nandina Domestica Obsessed for coloured foliage.

Flatpackback · 22/09/2020 14:11

I've got one of these outside the back door, the scent is fabulous, a real test in a gloomy winter day when I venture out:

Daphne odora, winter daphne, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae, native to China, later spread to Japan and Korea. It is an evergreen shrub, grown for its very fragrant, fleshy, pale-pink, tubular flowers, each with 4 spreading lobes, and for its glossy foliage.

Flatpackback · 22/09/2020 14:12

It's a treat, not a test 😂

Stompythedinosaur · 22/09/2020 18:36

Now I am tempted to get a daphne odora!

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