Brighten Up Your Patio Today: 5 Easy Ways to Add Color & Life This Winter!
We’re nearly there….so close to the end of January, we can finally see February on the horizon – Hoorah!!
It can be a little bit tricky, during the long Winter days, to keep up-beat about the garden. We’re all waiting patiently for the days to get longer, looking forward to the first signs of Spring and waiting to move those clocks forward, knowing that means longer evenings and warmer days. But don’t despair, there are still plenty of ways to get a little bit of sparkle into your garden at this time of year.
We’ve put together five quick and easy projects for you to bring a splash of colour and life to those patio planters right now:
1 - Phormiums create instant impact in the garden. Plant in large pots on the patio or in beds and borders to create a focal point. Bringing structure and height, their architectural qualities are beyond compare, and being evergreen, they will perform for you year round. Check out our huge Phormium tenax Variegata, the largest Phormium we’ve ever done, instant impact at it’s very best.
2 - One of the most uplifting signs of Spring has to be cherry blossom. Not many of us have the space for a great big ornamental cherry tree in the garden but, never fear, those clever breeders have solved this problem by grafting some gorgeous varieties of Prunus onto dwarfing rootstocks so you can grow them in a patio planter, creating a lovely little tree with all the flower power of a their bigger cousins. Prunus autumnalis Rosea is new to our range for 2025 and flowering from November to March each year, this fuss free mini tree will give that patio some much needed colour and cheer each and every Winter.
3 - Cheer up a permanent planter with a splash of seasonal colour! We all have those pots on the patio that contain a special shrub or perhaps some bulbs that aren’t really doing anything at the moment but will be soon. Why not add a few Primroses to give your pot a quick facelift whilst you wait! You can enjoy their displays in the short term in pots and then move them to a bed or border when they’ve finished flowering this year. Primroses come back year after year so enjoy them now in planters and in future years in the border. Try planting Double Shades for its brightly coloured double blooms and beautiful scent!
4 - One of my very favourite Winter flowering shrubs is Daphne. Evergreen foliage is always welcome but the absolute knockout thing about a Daphne is its sweet, intoxicating fragrance. The delicate little blooms don’t look like they would pack such a punch, but wow, the scent. We have a few dotted around our garden and you can always smell them before you see them! These amazing little shrubs are totally fuss free but so rewarding and perfectly happy in a planter. Perfume Princess is a great variety and a long time favourite with Plants2Gardens customers so why not give it a go!
5 - If you’re looking for something a little bit different, Edgeworthia Grandiflora is a fantastic shrub for the patio. Bearing brilliant yellow flowers on naked stems, the blooms make a bold statement and also act like a beacon to all the early pollinators in the garden. Not only that, but the flowers have a lovely scent too. Fully hardy and easy to grow for year upon year of pleasure!
Hopefully we’ve inspired you to get out into the garden this weekend. Happy Gardening!