Create a winter container

There are as many options as in summer

- Ruth Hayes

THERE is no need to let summer monopolise all the colour and fun of the garden. Winter has its own beauty, and one easy way of bringing it home and condensing it is to plant a late autumn container.

Bedding is the obvious choice; pansies, violas, cyclamen and sweet pompom bellis daisies are perfect for containers and will keep going well into next spring when they can be planted into the garden.

Grasses and young phormiums in greens and bronzes provide an attractive foil for bedding plants, while trailing ivy and hardy herbs soften the composition, and provide scent and edible interest.