Containers By The Season - Spring Flowers

Last week we looked at Spring bulbs and this week we will look at adding some Spring flowers to a container to make a nice display.

Spring is a busy time in the garden but for the most part it is all preparation for the Summer. A Spring container can help a lot by creating some early colour and interest on an otherwise busy but rather uninspiring scene.

The Spring trick
Really Spring flowering containers are Winter containers made to do an extra turn.

Winter flowering pansies can still look lovely as can wallflowers, polyanthus and some of the daisies (Bellis).

Of course you need to add these to some flowering bulbs that we covered in the last post to ensure that the colour and excitement is carried through as far into early Summer as you can.

Greenery
In Spring, more than any other time, greenery takes on a new meaning as it contrasts and complements the subtle colours of the Spring bulbs and flowers.

Heathers provide a nice contrast and, if you get ones that flower in Spring, they can serve a dual purpose. Helichrysums, too, can provide pleasant colours and textures so look especially for the Helichrysum Petiolare varieties.

There are so many greenery plants to choose from that I like to spend time looking for the more unusual and less well known to put in containers just so that my baskets look quite different from all of my friends!

Flowers look lovely in a container or in the garden but they need to be mixed in with some green plants to make a proper display.

In our overview of container gardening, that takes care of the two 'difficult' times so that the next post can look at the easier Summer container garden.