How to plant a pot for colour through till June

In September, Steve, Tim and I went to Whichford Pottery on a daytrip, following an irrestible invitation from Harriet Rycroft, the (as in, the only) Whichford gardener. She manages to transform 450 pots a year. Here’s one I particularly liked.
 
Whichford is a serious artisan pottery that is keeping old skills alive and developing new ones to adapt to new clays and customer requests. If this was a restaurant it would be world famous. As it is, the Japanese value the care and effort taken with each pot and they have kept the business as robust as it is through a difficult economic climate.
Harriet showed us how to plant a pot for colour from now until June. Our pots are not..ahem.. the stuff of Chelsea Gold so I was keen to see how she could get that much value out of one planting. Sure enough, with evergreens and a tonne of bulbs she made the whole thing look elegant and easy.
 The conifer is set just below the pot edge. Harriet is planting tulip bulbs good and deep and then adding a layer of compost,some slow release fertiliser, another layer of bulbs and so on until the bedding and evergreen plants are added to sit level with the conifer. Lastly, the smallest bulbs are just pushed into the pot.
Inspired by her scheme, this is our recipe mix for Winter and Spring pots.
 
You will need:
1.Pots, compost and slow release fertiliser. If using a large pot, place it in position first as it will get heavier as you plant.
2. A selection of small evergreen shrubs and groundcover. This image shows (clockwise from top) Escallonia, Variegated golden Euonymus and Ajuga ‘Golden Beauty’ alongside the black grass Ophiopogon nigrescens.
3. Lots of bulbs for flowering from end of January to the end of May. For some pots I have gone for a strong statement of Tulipa ‘Blueberry Ripple’ and ‘Couleur Cardinale.’  As I built up the layers Fritillary meleagris, Iris Harmony, small Narcissi and Crocuses were added to the mix. Alliums can also be added for a last burst of colour.When we plant up the shrubs shown above, there will definitely be snowdrops involved.
4. Violas or Polyanthus to provide winter and spring colour. We have chosen Viola ‘Outback Fire’
 Lurking in this pot until spring, with other bulbs, is Iris bucharica which will add fullness to the planting.
Finally I put a wire mesh over the top of the most precious pots, just in case the squirrels find the bulbs.
If you want to do something similar the collections in our online shop offer a beautiful mix of named bulbs for planting into pots now. Click here for details.

Top Ten bulbs for planting now

This week we launched our bulb collections available in two sizes.This makes a fantastic present for an anniversary or as a thank you. Visit www.shopateaston.co.uk to order. Below are the bulbs we have chosen, all of which we grow in the gardens here so they have been thoroughly tested for reliability and ease of growing.

I have chosen the bulbs which have worked really well for us and give a succession of colour. They are good doers and will give your garden colour from February to May with surprisingly little effort. Each bulb collection comes with hints and tips to get the most out of your bulbs and can be sent with a gift message.
Gift boxes include the following:
 
Iris ‘Harmony’
A stunning sky blue flower with royal blue and yellow markings, reaches 15cm high. This hardy bulb needs well-drained soil and good light. Flowering between February-March, its ancestors are native to Western Asia’s mountainsides and cultivated fields.

Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’
A beautiful, fast-growing crocus flowering between February-March, thrives in rocky and stony areas, with ancestors from the light woodland of South-East Europe.

Anenome blanda Mixed
These charming daisy-like flowers come in gentle shades of pink, blue and white. The bulbs tend to lie dormant in the summer, so are perfect for planting around the base of perennials yet to come up.

Scilla sibirica 'Alba'
A beautiful white form of the better known blue Scilla, these delicate stars flower in early Spring. Excellent in pots or blank spaces in your border, Scilla are traditionally found in meadows and woodland all the way from Southern Russia down to NW Iran.

Chionodoxa luciliae
One of our favourite bulbs! Flowering when little else is, these true blue flowers with white centres are perfect for either borders or turf. Flowering in March and April, they are a hardy bulb, happy in both sun and partial shade.

Puschkinia libanotica
Light blue and white flowers reaching 15cm high, flowering in early spring. Originally from the mountains of Turkey, these delightful bulbs will spread a little from original planting, but not so much as to take over.

Narcissus 'Tete a Tete'
One of the world's most popular daffodils and deservedly so! Making an early show in March, these beautiful, small daffodils give a good strong yellow that looks excellent with blue. Perfect for growing in pots or in gardens.

Fritillaria meleagris
The Snakeshead Lily. Every aspiring patch of meadow should include these beautiful flowers. Native to West and Southern Europe’s damp meadowland and light woodland, with purple and white chequerboard petals, they are perfect for grassy areas, especially if damp. Flowers in mid to late Spring.

Tulipa sylvestris
A surprisingly tall species tulip growing to 30cm, the thin stems and elegant shaped yellow flowers work well in informal settings such as the edge of borders or in turf. Flowering in April, the bulbs like a sunny spot.Native to Northern Europe.

Narcissus 'Thalia'
A refined and elegant daffodil with white clusters of flowers on each stem, bringing style to any pot or garden. Their ancestors are native to Finisterre in France.
All these bulbs come from cultivated stock, they are not removed from their native habitat.You can buy them online at www.shopateaston.co.uk along with our sweet pea seeds.

March at Easton comes in like a lion….

Last week the winds picked up and typical March weather had arrived. Small bulbs were unaffected by it and made brave showings in the cedar meadow. Coming out now to join the crocuses are Chionodoxa in blues, pinks and white.

New daffodils are showing through every day including the Tenby daffodil (Narcissus obvallaris) (below) and, on the snowdrop bank, an old survivor from pre-restoration, sometimes known as ‘Queen Anne’s Double’. The flowers are stuffed with petals that threaten to bring the whole stem down.

On sunny days (like yesterday) we spot frogs  in the ditch below the snowdrop bank. The weather was so fine that they ignored us to enjoy the heat and were splashing and croaking in the puddles. The grey wagtail has returned to the river where we can watch his bobbing flight with ease.
The hellebores are at their best now. Most of our hellebores are in the woodland walk where they blend with hyacinths, dogs mercury and golden feverfew. An unusual combination of plants that is well worth seeing.