Period winter pot planting

[jocelyn plummer]

I seem to have a fair few good sized pots around the garden and just wondered what would be a good combination of winter planting-- sort of Victorianish! It would be nice to minimise the bog standard pansies and cyclamen--- look forward to some ideas!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Tricky as so much dies back. Variegated ivy does a job as a filler. B&Q are doing Gentian violets at the moment, they look superb with that vivid blue.
This link is reasonably interesting, though the focus isn't on pots.
http://www.which.co.uk/documents/pdf/winter-flowers-153950.pdf

I'm jealous Joss, my larger pots just get filled up with big fat snoozy hens, the Orpingtons particularly think they look good in them.

I remember doing ornamental cabbages in London one year; that was fun.

 

[Penners]

Here's what Adam recommends:

http://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/pots-containers/winter-fire/

Or...

http://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/pots-containers/category/autumn-winter/

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Thank you! I love the Gardeners World choices and found 2 that are very charming. Will check out the housekeeping!!

 

[Juju]

I must get my winter pots sorted too.. I usually rely on skimmias, winter pansies or cyclamens (and snowdrops etc) so need to be a bit more ambitious this year.

Slightly off-topic has anyone got any ideas for a spectacular display of houseplants? I am rubbish at houseplants so haven't really bothered with them - got a couple of that I haven't managed to kill as yet. Anyway, as those of you who have visited our house know, we live right on to a busy street with a narrow pavement so therefore I can't really put any plants outside (well, I could put hanging baskets high up but I don't think they'd look great and our outside window sills are very narrow) so I thought why not put a lovely display of houseplants on the very deep window sill inside (of one of the front living rooms) but I'd like some ideas please. It's a large arched multipaned single glazed window so can get a bit chilly but the pot would be moved to the room side of the shutters at night. I like the idea of something 17th century/traditional to suit the house - would a mini- orange tree survive? I also like the idea of several plants in one wide shallow pot. Where I do my NT volunteering we have an amazing display of indoor geraniums but I don't really like the smell of those indoors... I suppose another option is fresh flowers and/or learning to do flower arranging - I could copy the ideas at my NT property which are all done by volunteers.

It probably all sounds very basic to most of you but I'm just no good at indoor plants - choosing them, looking after them, choosing appropriate pots etc. I go round people's houses and think how wonderful they look but I can't get them right. My niece in Germany has a fantastic display of plants in modern pots all round her flat and she even makes artificial plants look great in her windowless bathroom (any tips on that would be appreciated too as we have 2 windowless bathrooms - I've got some dried lavender but that's it)
Juju

 

[LadyArowana]

Have you considered a bonsai tree, some of them are quite hardy.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, I share your crisis of confidence about house-plants! At the moment all I have is a pair of old (slightly chipped, so v v cheap) Chinoiserie pots containing orchids. The orchids are the slowest to die, I've found. And they're often a fiver in Asda, so I don't mind replacing them when I've realised I've killed them again.

I've killed oranges, cactuses, yukkas, ferns, and violets. I'm sure plants would fare well in your very capable hands though Juju!

How about three nice matching pots - I love the Kew ones https://terraceandgarden.nordicshops.com/category.html/pots--planters containing a massed planting of sempervivums? http://ian-dutton.suite101.com/sempervivums-as-houseplants-a363608

Flower arranging looks such fun.

 

[Juju]

I've frequently killed orchids! I've managed to retain one although it's never flowered but it's got nice greenery. Yes I've seen those Kew pots - they're very nice especially the bigger ones. They're cheaper than I thought they'd be. So many colours to choose from too. I may have to make some purchases even though I have no money! I'm trying to spruce the house up for my dad and brother visiting next week. Dad has no interest in plants whatsoever (although he's taken fantastic care of my late mum's indoor plants) but he will like to see pots with Kew written on them as he's from Richmond and also lived opposite Kew Gardens for a while.

I've just wasted half an hour looking at houseplants on the internet and seen some suggestions for plants for windowless rooms so now I've also got ideas for my bathrooms eg peace lily, chinese evergreen, pothos lily. I reckon they'd be ok if I remember to put them on a sunny window sill once a week. I do like a bathroom to have plants in it!
Juju

 

[JoceAndChris]

You're very lucky to have space for a plant in your bathroom Juju. They sound like nice choices - I love peace lilies, don't know the other lily, off to look.

I think the Kew pots are fantastic but whatever you do don't allow them to winter outside! They don't like it at all.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Juju, an aspidestra (sp?) springs to mind!! I think houseplants are incredibly difficult to deal with, they seem to dry out , wilt, sulk with unfailing regularity. I have only been successful with cyclamen in a north facing window, and an orchid in, of all places, the downstairs loo which has a south facing window and the tumble dryer and washing machine to raise the humidity!!

I think a trick is possibly to have a good sized planter with a collection of green ferns planted in suitable soil, and then pop in small pots of pansys, african violets, or suchlike, and remove/exchange them when they give up the ghost. Most green house plants tolerate lack of light, they just need to be draught free and misted regularly. The alternative is to create a terranium under glass-- makes its own eco system, and was I think very popular with the Victorians.

Fresh flowers are brilliant if you can find a good florist who will sell single stems of the exotic -- for example our local garden centre's florist shop in Woburn Sands is selling a stem of hydrangea for £3 which had 5 glorious heads on it with leaves as well, all you need--- then you could put extra greenery from the garden with them. I find supermarket flowers ( especially from that well known store where 'im indoors works) incredibly boring, synthetic, often damaged and vey expensive.

I have got as far as planting my shade loving plants today in the garden, hellebore, ferns and a couple of heuchera, underplanted with snowdrops and aconites, but they will have to survive the neighbour's cats! Pots, I shall do soon.

 

[Juju]

Getting lots of good ideas now - thanks! I just wish I didn't have a work deadline otherwise I'd be down the garden centre today and spending the day sorting out plants in my sunny back garden.

One indoor plant I've had for years and never managed to kill (apart from spider plants of course) is a Christmas cactus - fantastic when it flowers. Maybe I should stick to what I know!
Juju

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Well, 'what you know' is a less expensive option! I think Christmas cactus are lovely.. are they all the same colour? I am sure that I have seen white ones then you could group a few together!