A bumper crop of new product releases, ideas and top tips for making the most of your outdoor space – whatever its shape and size
Winter planters
Containers are a wonderful way to bring colour and interest to gardens during winter and can be filled with an array of hardy plants: from evergreen shrubs and sculptural grasses to bedding flowers and seasonal vegetables. For dazzling displays, combine at least three different varieties, mixing structural plants with foliage fillers and bright statement plants. You can put them in a single container or try them separately in pots of different heights clustered together. Follow our planting suggestions for the best show…
SHAPE AND STRUCTURE
Evergreen shrubs such as box, holly, bay and small conifers, bring form and height to winter planters. For sculptural interest, try ferns or grasses
INSTANT COLOUR You can’t go wrong with hellebores, cyclamen or winter-flowering violas and pansies. Lacy heathers come in a variety of shades, or try plants with berries.
FABULOUS FILLERS Skimmia Japonica ‘Rubella’ plants boast evergreen leaves and pinkish-red buds that open to scented white flowers in spring. Sacred bamboo, Nandina domestica ‘Obsessed’, has lance-shaped leaflets and red winter berries.
From little acorns
Spark the imagination of young gardeners with a Grow Your Own British tree kit from The Den Kit Company. Designed to get kids into growing, it has everything they need to plant a tree, including Field Maple or Alder tree seeds, plant markers, a peat-free compost disc and a bamb
