YOU'VE enjoyed your colourful planters all summer, but why stop there?

It’s perfectly possible to have planters for wonderful autumn colour, that will banish the blues on the grey days of winter and burst into flower in spring.

This month we’re offering you some planting ideas that will do just that – and all in one container!

The Centrepiece

Design your planter by starting with a hardy, evergreen plant for the centrepiece. It needs to be able to withstand the lower temperatures and retain its attractive foliage through the harsher weather.

At Merryhatton, we find most customers favour easy-care, reliable, compact, slow-growing shrubs that can be left in the container for a few years without crowding out other plants.

Amongst the plant team’s favourites is the Hebe, which can flower right through autumn to the first frosts. With green or variegated foliage and flowers in white, pink, blue or purple, there is lots of choice when planning your colour theme.

Equally popular is the trustworthy Euonymus, selected for its striking gold or white variegated glossy foliage.

Choose E. ‘Emerald & Gold’ for an eye-catching green/gold palette, or E. ‘Emerald Gaiety’ for a dazzling green/white centrepiece. Both are small, low growing shrubs which grow happily in a containers.

Another shrub worth consideration is Choisya, commonly called the Mexican Orange Blossom. Flowering in spring, and sometimes again in autumn, it’s popular for its scent.

Amongst the many varieties that do well in East Lothian, we’d suggest C. ‘Sundance’ and C. ‘Aztec Pearl’.

Conifers are always a popular choice for winter planters. Available in a vast array of sizes and shapes ranging from their natural growth habit to the wonderfully attractive trimmed topiary plants that have been shaped into spirals, ‘lollipops’, cones and many others amazing shapes, you can even find varieties with golden and silver variegation.

A simple winter planter with conifer and pansies (Image: Contributed)

Dwarf conifer varieties can be very slow-growing and, whilst they might appear relatively expensive compared to other shrubs, it does mean they can remain in the planter for longer.

Spring flowers – every year!

Underplanting with a selection of spring-flowering bulbs that flower successively means you can enjoy different blooms from January onwards.

A mix of dwarf narcissus such as ‘January’, ‘February Gold’ and ‘Minnow’ will give you daffodils at a height of about 10 inches from January through to March.

Miniature daffodils (Image: Contributed)

Early-flowering crocus varieties - generally three to five inches in height - are best placed near the rim of the planter and bloom from February onwards.

Our favourite varieties include ‘Ard Schenk’ (an amazing pure white), ‘Gypsy Girl’ or ‘Cream Beauty’ (both cream/yellow), or ‘Prins Claus’ (purple outer, white inner).

The much-loved dwarf tulips begin to flower from March onwards, a little earlier than the taller garden tulip varieties. For planters, you might consider the earliest-flowering variety, aptly named ‘The First’, with its cream/red flowers in March, followed by ‘Albion Star’ with delicate white/pink tinge or the stunning red ‘Dwarf Praestans’, both of which bloom in April/May. These varieties are approximately six inches to eight inches.

With bulbs, you should allow the foliage to die back naturally, as this replenishes them ready to flower again next spring. Bearing that in mind, don’t forget to plant the bulbs by flowering height, so the foliage doesn’t hide the next bulb that flowers!

The annual facelift

For consistent colour throughout autumn/winter, add some seasonal pansies and violas. These tough, hardy annual plants flower continuously from August to April and you only need to dead-head them to encourage repeat flowering.

Pansies and violas (Image: Contributed)

Remove the annuals in late spring so they don’t compete for water and nutrients with the more permanent centrepiece and bulbs which need to build up over summer.

Simply add new winter annuals the following autumn and your next winter’s cheerful planter is ready again.

Finally

As with all gardening projects, there are endless variations and you’ll find more information on our website at merryhatton.co.uk

If you need some advice creating your own unique planters, our friendly and experienced plant team are always delighted to help you choose what’s best for you and your garden – just pop in and have a chat!