Flower color may be all important in summer and at this time, for the best effects, you should consider carefully how to handle a palette of potentially overwhelming brilliance. Foliage may help solve the problem of competing colors and it may offer the theme for year-round planting. At quieter times of the year you may prefer to change the focus, moving into detail instead of aiming to create broad effects. Old hands will tell you that there is no sweeter delight than having plant treasures for every month of the year. Whatever approach you adopt, the key to success is choosing the right plant for the right place and giving plants conditions for best growth.
Winter frost highlights the shapes of box (Buxus) topiary against hedges of evergreen conifers. Clipped bay trees (Laurus nobilis) and holies (llex) also make excellent container subjects for a formal effect. All need trimming at least once a year to keep their shape.
PLANNING FOR THE OFF-SEASON The period from the end of summer until early spring is undoubtedly the leanest time of the year in the garden. Some people mistakenly think it is so lean that they give up all expectation of pleasure from plants and turn their backs on the container garden. But even in the darkest weeks of the year there are some plants that are at their best or are at least performing just as reliably and effectively as at the height of summer. Many of the plants that give off-season value are no more demanding than familiar plants of the peak season.
In autumn, berrying shrubs such as pernettyas and skimmias strike the right seasonal note as do a few deciduous shrubs with good autumn colours, especially Japanese maples (Acer palmatum).
Evergreens, such as ivy (Hedera species), box (Buxus sempervirens) and some of the dwarf conifers, among them cultivars of Chamaecyparis and Thuja, stalwarts throughout the year, come into their own as autumn advances. The many shades of green extend into blues, greys and gold's, not to mention variations from cream to deep yellow. Some evergreens, box in particular, respond well to trimming and for me the severe geometry or fanciful shapes of topiary are never more appealing than in winter.
Among other evergreens are a few herbaceous plants. Some of these, such as begonias and heucheras, have been made popular as groundcover plants but there is also scope for more of them in containers, especially to fill winter gaps.
Top of my list for flowering plants in the lean seasons are bulbs. Many are easy to grow and, although the flowers seem delicate, they stand up to rough weather surprisingly well. Outstanding among them are species crocuses, cyclamen, grape hyacinths, dwarf irises, scillas and snowdrops (Galanthus). Even some of the earliest daffodils and tulips can brighten the last few weeks of winter and early spring. Most of the early bulbs are short in stature and suitable for window boxes, troughs and similar containers.
Good shrubs that do well in containers and flower in winter and early spring include Japanese quince (Chaenomeles), camellias, among them deep pink 'Anticipation' and rosy pink 'St Ewe', and the first rhododendrons, such as R. X cilpinense with bell-shaped pink flowers. On a smaller scale there are the long-lasting winter-flowering heathers (some of the many Erica cameo and E. X darleyensis cultivars).
What the container garden lacks between autumn and early spring are the showy flowers that are the glory of high spring and summer. To some extent the gap is filled by a few dazzling performers that cover a wide colour range. The winter-flowering pansies are exceptionally good value and offer one of the best solutions to planting a hanging basket in the off-season period. The Primula family also includes winter-flowering plants, the most colourful of which are the popular polyanthus. If you find their form and colour exaggerated, look out for more refined primrose like hybrids.
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