Why Choose Winter Flower Plants for Pots
Choosing winter flowering plants in containers offers many benefits. First, they provide a burst of colour and beauty when most other plants are dormant, invigorating your surroundings. Second, potted plants are highly versatile, allowing you to move them around to create dynamic displays or protect them from harsh weather. Whether you have a small porch, patio, or even a doorstep, containers offer a space-saving solution for gardening enthusiasts. Additionally, planting in containers improves soil quality and drainage control, ensuring optimal growing conditions for your winter flowers. With the proper selection of plants and containers, you can easily customize your outdoor space to suit your style and preferences.
Best winter plants for pots
Snowdrops
Snowdrops are perfect for winter pot displays. Combine them with black lilyturf and hellebores for a modern look. Check out our guide for more winter flowering bulbs.
Height x Spread: 15cm x 8cm
Checkerberry, Gaultheria procumbens
Checkerberry (Gaultheria procumbens) is a naturally festive-looking, neat, low-spreading evergreen with large red berries and reddish-tinged leaves in winter.
H x S: 30cm x 1.5m
Winter-flowering pansy
Winter-flowering pansies with yellow, maroon, white or purple ‘faces’ will keep flowering except in the worst weather. But they will recover and then continue until June.
H x S: 20cm x 30cm
Cyclamen
Hardy cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium and Cyclamen coum) are neat, free-flowering plants, perfect for growing at the base of trees and shrubs or naturalising in grass. They work well in winter pot displays and can be planted in the garden after they have flowered.
H x S: 8cm x 10cm
Carex
Carex are tuft-forming evergreen perennials with green, variegated or bronze, curly or arching leaves. They are very tough and contemporary and will look good all winter.
H x S: 20cm x 30cm
Skimmia 'Rubella'
Skimmia ‘Rubella’ is a rugged, hardy, and reliable evergreen shrub with grape-like clusters of tight pink buds throughout winter. It teams well with heather.
H x S: 75cm x 75cm
Phormium
Phormium is a colourful architectural evergreen with arched strap-shaped leaves in pink, purplish, and bronzy shades, including stripes. It is a good mixer for contemporary schemes.
H x S: 1m x 1.2m
Christmas rose
The Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, bears large, round, white flat-faced flowers above low-growing mounds of leathery, deep green foliage.
H x S: 45cm x 45cm
Winter heather
With wiry stems clothed in evergreen needles, usually deep green but sometimes in other shades, winter heathers are generally derived from Erica carnea, which grows wild in the Alps and other cool mountainous regions.
H x S: 25cm x 30cm
Winter trough
This aged wooden trough has been upcycled and given a new lease on life. It’s planted with a range of perennials and small shrubs that provide flowers, scent, seedheads, berries, and more.
We used Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’, Gaultheria procumbens, Bergenia cordifolia, Erica carnea ‘Springwood White’, Viburnum tinus, Euonymus fortunei and eryngium seedheads.
Festuca, santolina, gaultheria and ivy
Whatever the temperature, these elegant ice maidens make an eye-catching display. In spring, replace the white-berried gaultheria with white hyacinths. Remove berries that go brown to keep it looking good.
We used Santolina chamaecyparissus, Festuca glauca ‘Intense Blue’, white-berried Gaultheria mucronata, Hedera helix ‘Glacier’, and white violas.
Cyclamen, carex and skimmia
These sumptuous carmine cyclamens pop out all the more when planted alongside the more muted carex and skimmia. A miniature ivy allowed to tumble over helps to soften any hard edges.
We used: Cyclamen ‘Mini Gem’, Skimmia japonica ‘Thereza’, Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’, miniature ivy.
Kale, sage, rosemary and Chilean guava
The Chilean guava likes acid soil, so keep it in a pot of ericaceous compost and sink it into the larger container. Keep these edibles near the kitchen door. Protect the Chilean guava from frost in a sheltered spot, porch or cool greenhouse.
We used kale ‘Redbor’, Chilean guava (Ugni molinae), rosemary, and purple sage (Salvia).
With the proper selection of winter flower plants and thoughtful container gardening techniques, you can create a breathtaking winter garden that defies the season’s grimness. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or a novice enthusiast, experimenting with different types of winter flowers in pots is rewarding. So embrace the beauty of winter with stunning potted plants and let your outdoor space come alive with colour and fragrance, even in the coldest months of the year.
