I finally composted my pots of petunias the other day. They had become a terrible embarrassment: long, brown straggles of dead foliage with a few sad, purple trumpets at the end. I was sorry to say goodbye to them, as they had performed manfully all summer, but their demise has released a quartet of nice terracotta pots, waiting to be filled with new subjects.
The obvious thing would seem to be winter-flowering pansies - and there are some rather jolly giant-flowered ones around now. But these require quite a bit of shelter: otherwise their happy-clappy faces end up hanging pitifully from broken necks. Also, I'm not sure if big flowers fit in with the more muted goings-on in the end-of-season garden. The smaller pansies and little violas - grouped tightly together, as they grow slowly now - might be preferable (they still need protection from the wind).
The polyanthus kinds of primula are more weather-proof and come in an assortment of brightly hued colours. Jumbled together, the effect is maniacally cheery - which is just what some gardeners crave in these dark days. I prefer to stick to one colour, or to combine two closely-associated shades, like white and yellow. But winter containers don't have to be filled with flowery bedding plants. Almost any evergreen perennial can be potted. Some, like the leathery-leaved bergenias, will need to be re-homed after a season or two; but others, such as ivies and some ornamental grasses, will live contentedly in pots for years. Stick in a few small spring bulbs, such as crocuses or miniature daffodils, and you'll have an easy-care, diminutive garden.
Slow-growing shrubs are another option, and there are many that have powerfully-fragrant winter flowers. Daphnes do well in pots, as do the smaller sweet or Christmas box (Sarcococca humilis). The ordinary box (Buxus sempervirens) is, of course, a classic container plant and can be trained into almost any shape that takes your fancy: sphere, cube, spiral, lollipop, pyramid or whimsical creature. Or buy plants ready-formed and keep them clipped to shape. Box is often under-planted with ivy, and the two go together wonderfully, like peaches and cream. But for a different effect, you might try the low-growing grass (or sedge, to be precise) Carex berggrenii, in the now-fashionable, reddish-brown colour. For a truly sophisticated statement, mulch the top of the pot with gravel or decorative stones.
I've always liked the rusty-coloured grasses, especially in winter, when the low sun lights up their orangey tones. Two favourites are Carex buchanii, which grows to over half a metre tall, and the bronze form of C. comans, a smaller plant. Grasses are particularly elegant when grown in tall pots - "long toms" - and their thin foliage doesn't act as a sail in the wind, bringing the pot crashing down (a problem with top-heavy, tall containers). This autumn I'm trying the pheasant's tail grass (Stipa arundinacea) with its orange-mottled, olivegreen leaves in the long toms on my window-sill. Grasses outside the window give you an audio bonus when their blades brush against the glass, with the sound of dashes of wind-charged rain. Incidentally, if you place pots on window-sills, bang in a pair of vineeyes on either side of the window-opening and run a couple of lines of galvanised wire through them to stop the pots flying off in the breeze.
I prefer my pots of grasses unadorned by other plants, but the crinkly-leaved creeping bugle (Ajuga reptans) is an agreeable accompaniment. "Catlin's Giant" and "Braunherz" are two good, dark-leaved forms, while "Burgundy Glow" and "Multicolor" are brightly splashy. "Catlin's Giant" comes recommended by Frances MacDonald (whose Co Wexford garden featured in this column this summer), a dedicated pot gardener. She advises teaming it with the chocolate-leaved Pittosporum "Tom Thumb", a slow-growing, dwarf shrub, for a darkly handsome winter tableau. And for a pot of light-suffused foliage and flower, she suggests planting the lacy-patterned Arum italicum `Marmoratum' (also called `Pictum') with snowdrops. I can imagine this being an uplifting spectacle in early spring.
For yule-time radiance, Frances has a tub of Rhododendron "Christmas Cheer" with "beautiful pink flowers - and it actually does flower for Christmas." Her metre-high specimen has been containerised for half a decade, and is kept healthy by annual top-dressing with fresh compost, a sprinkle of slow-release fertiliser, and occasional additional feeding. There are countless other shrubs suitable for pots that will brighten or add structure to the late-season garden, including Pieris, Osmanthus, Euonymus and the little Escallonia "Red Dream" (and let's not forget the much-maligned dwarf conifers and winter-flowering heathers).
For shady, sheltered corners, there are ferns. The soft shield fern, Polystichum setiferum, is evergreen and has many graceful forms. Group a few together for a delicate, filigree picture. In fact, whatever you grow in pots in the dark months to come should be gathered into container communities, rather than being dotted lonesomely around the place. Herd them into pleasing clusters where you can see them from the house. Be sure to put fragrant plants right next to the door, where their intoxicating perfume will fortify you each time you venture into the cold winter garden.
Jane Powers can be contacted at: jpowers@irish-times.ie