Autumn, Winter and Early Spring Bedding Plants
Hardy Bedding
It’s the shortest days of the year when we value colour in our gardens the most and even a small well-timed planting of bedding plants can really lift your mood. Our hardy bedding plant ranges are chosen for their ability to perform in less than ideal weather and provide a beautiful display in your garden and containers.
Pansies
(available from Mid-August to late October and late February to April)
Pansies are the mainstay of any autumn and winter bedding plant display and to be honest they really take some beating in the spring too! Wether your filling gaps in a garden border, crating a hanging basket display or refreshing your patio containers, pansy plants are the perfect solution for reliably providing colour during the colder months of the year. Our pansy plants are normally sold in 6 packs, both in a very wide range of straight colours and in mixtures too.
Violas
(available from Mid-August to late October and late February to April)
The little brother to the pansy, Violas make the perfect support act to staging a show to remember in your garden. What Violas may lack in size, they more than make up for in numbers, with established plants literally smothered in flower. Violas are normally sold in 6 packs, both in a very wide range of straight colours and mixes. Choose colours to compliment your pansies and you’ll have the perfect combination.
Mini Cyclamen
(available late August to October)
If you really want to give your patio an early autumn spruce-up with some instant colour, invest in a few mini cyclamen. Not to be confused with hardy cyclamen, mini cyclamen are frost hardy to a certain extent but we generally recommend relying on them until early to mid-winter when the very cold and wet weather may become too much for them. Mini cyclamen are normally available in 9cm pots and bedding packs in a range of reds, pinks, purples and white.
Chrysanthemums aka “Garden Mums”
(available August to December)
Nothing rivals Garden Mums for packing a punch of colour in the autumn. These large cushions of bloom can literally fill your garden with colour, not just once, but year after year as they’re actually perennials. The modern-day descendant of the cut flower Chrysanthemums that Grandad used to grow, these compact busy plants have been bred to transform your beds and containers with the minimum of bother. Normally available in yellow, white, pink and bronze in a variety of sizes.
Polyanthus, Sweet Williams, Forget me Not & Bellis
(available Sept and October and March)
These traditional spring flowering bedding plants have huge role to play in bringing variety to the garden at that time of year. Remembering to plant a pack or two in the autumn with some spring flowering bulbs can reward you handsomely a few months later in return for just a modest sum.
Primroses
(available Sept to Oct & Feb to April)
Needing no introduction whatsoever, Primroses are arguably the signature plant of spring. Although available briefly as “green plants” in the autumn, you’ll find a wall of colourful blooming primrose plants here in the springtime in all colours of the rainbow. Usually available in 6 packs and 9cm pots.
Autumn Flowering Heathers (Callunas)
(available late August to October)
Another “instant fix” for autumn colour on the patio! Modern varieties of “Bud Flowering Heathers” have now been bred which provide colour from un-opened buds, long before any flowers actually open, resulting in a colourful plant throughout the whole autumn season. Look out for “Garden Girls” or “Beauty Ladies”.
Ivies, Trailing and Foliage Plants
(available autumn, winter and spring)
Its not all about flowers when it comes to creating stunning hanging baskets and planters, particularly for the colder months of the year. Just as evergreens create a “skeleton” in the garden borders, they will do likewise in containers too, providing shape and interest no matter what the weather and they can also beautifully set-off the colours of the flowering plants too.
Trailing
Pansies & Violas
Pansies & Violas
(available September and October)
Its no longer Ivies and other foliage plants that we need to lean on for trailing colour at this time of year. Plant breeders have been hard at work in recent years developing trailing forms of both pansies and violas. Both are exceptionally free flowering and easy to grow and planting these will mean your hanging baskets and pots will be literally overflowing with colour!
