Four colourful containers for spring

By Dawn Gay

Start your own mini garden design project with a colourful patio full of vibrant spring blooms. Mix and match nature's own foliage and flower palates with chic containers, from metallic materials to traditional glazed and terracotta styles.

Flower power

senetti For flowers that show off all the way through spring, and to get value for money, choose Senetti with its bushy foliage and daisy-like blooms. Senetti Deep Blue or Salmon (a pale mauve colour) looks serene in a terracotta pot and will enliven any patio.

Materials:

Quality potting compost, like John Innes number 2, which is easy to find in garden centres and is ideal for general potting; broken plant pots (crocks) or polystyrene (from old, torn up plant trays) for drainage; 1 x 6 litre pot Senetti (approx. £9.99 per 6 litre pot), 1 terracotta pot. We like Terra Tanagara squares (from £98) from Bright Green.

Step by step:

Water your pot of Senetti thoroughly before planting. Fill the base of a large terracotta pot with broken crocks or pieces of polystyrene and fill with compost, leaving enough space for your pot (for most pots this will be about three-quarters full). Plant and firm down your Senetti and leave your container in a sunny or partially shaded patio. Remove faded flower heads to encourage flowering and water as and when required. Senetti will also love a sunny border, so plant out once you have enjoyed your pots.

Perfect pansies

pansy No spring or early summer container is complete without the essential annual (one-year life cycle) flower, the pansy or Viola. Bulk buy your cheap and cheerful pansies in polystyrene strips, available from DIY stores or in small pots.

Mix with some trailing foliage in a trough container or window box to bring out their pretty purples and pink hues. Plant pansies alongside Helichrysum 'Goring silver' with its contrasting dusty grey leaves.

Ivy (Hedera) is also the perfect pansy partner, especially variegated (two-tone) Hedera Colchica 'Dentata Variegata', Persian Ivy. Vary your pot by adding some miniature pansies, widely available in nurseries and garden centres.

Materials:

Quality potting compost, 4 x 1 litre pots of pansies (approx. £1.99 for a one-litre pot), 3 small pots of Helichrysum 'Goring silver' (approx. £1.99 for a small pot), plant fertiliser, 1 x trough container. The Citrus trough from Crocus (from £59.99) comes in a range of dimensions and is light weight and frost proof.

Step by step:

Water your pansies well before planting. Fill the bottom of your pot with crocks and top up with compost. Plant pansies along the centre of your container in a hole the same depth as the pot and water in well. Add your trailing plant to the outer edges of the pot. Dead head (pinch off) wilting pansy flowers to encourage blooms. Your pansies will stay with you until it gets warm as they prefer cool conditions. Feed Helichrysum weekly with fertiliser in the summer.