Now is a good time to play catch-up and get a colourful winter garden

There was still confusion last weekend whether garden centres would open or not, but those that opened their doors were full of gardeners getting their “green fix”.

It was a good sight, evidence that people still want to garden. Maybe, walking around the garden 10 times a day brought home the realisation that nature, flowers and greenery have a hugely beneficial effect on our mental well-being.

In one sense, the lockdown has brought us back into contact with our gardens. There has been time to enjoy its serenity, the birds that visit, the bees and butterflies foraging among the flowers. Just having a garden and being able to walk out into it, is an enormous privilege.

The nursery I visited provided sanitiser at the entrance and made everyone aware of the need for social distancing. The staff appeared to be relieved to be back at work and hopefully earning an income.

What was flying off the racks? Bold yellow and blue pansies, pots and pots of orchids, probably for Mother’s Day, herbs, and bags of compost.

Even though we have lost out on five weeks of planting winter and spring annuals, there is enough time to catch up and still have a colourful winter garden.

Pansies and violas are already in flower and provide instant colour, especially in warm, sunny beds.

Pansy flowers are getting bigger, with the largest flowers being 8-9cm in diameter, but still on neat plants only 15-20cm high and wide. That keeps them compact enough to work as borders and edgings, in window boxes and containers, in gardens of all sizes.

Shear off dead flowers, and immediately feed with a liquid fertiliser to encourage new growth and a new flush. Look out for trailing varieties that quickly fill hanging baskets and containers.

Petunia hybrids in all their variety love the cool, dry spring weather of summer rainfall areas. They are drought-tolerant, water-wise and need little attention.

The big, frilly, veined, star or picotee Grandiflora petunias provide big impact in small spaces. Double petunias that look like peonies are good as container or garden petunias. The common multiflora petunias with medium-sized flowers are best for massed colour.

Should there be frost, the flowers may get damaged, but the plants will be fine. They quickly come back into flower as temperatures rise towards spring.

Iceland poppies are wonderful companions for pansies, violas, and calendulas as well as fillers in between pruned roses in winter.

Buy seedlings that are “green”, in other words, not in flower. Plant poppies in full sun, in well-composted soil. For great flowers fertilise once a month and water regularly; they should not dry out or be over-watered.

Alyssum exudes a delicious honey-scented fragrance, and can be tucked into beds, between paving stones, and as a filler with pansies or violas in window-boxes, hanging baskets and containers. Be careful of over-watering. Trim off dead flowers to encourage new blooms.

Calendulas offer the warmth of yellow or orange flowers. They are frost hardy, grow easily with the minimum of care and will continue flowering if the dead flowers are regularly removed. The petals are edible.

Primulas are winter’s most magical flowers for shade and semi-shade. Their airy, lacy flowers are produced in such abundance that they fill a garden bed or border, creating drifts of colour, in shades of lavender, rose, white or wine red.

Despite their delicate appearance, these are reliable, easy growing and undemanding plants for light, shady areas.

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