Pretty in pink Time to plant: spring/summer
You will need:
1 × marguerite
1 × chrysanthemum
1 × osteospermum
large pot
Marguerites (Argyranthemum) bloom from late spring onwards, and there’s rarely a moment when this plant is out of flower until the frosts arrive, provided you remove the old blooms as they fade.
There is a new form of chrysanthemum on the market, known as ‘cushion mums’, which flower in spring as well as the traditional autumn period. Plants bought in bud in spring will produce two performances in one year, giving you amazing value for money. They are hardy enough to stay outdoors all year and are naturally compact.
A pretty daisy from southern Africa, osteospermums are available in a wide range of colours. This plant will flower from late spring to autumn and can easily be propagated from cuttings taken in summer. These are best grown indoors over winter as an insurance policy against losing the parent plants to the cold.
TIP
Marguerites and osteospermums are tender plants, so if you want to guarantee their survival, take cuttings in summer to grow indoors during winter.
Royal blue Time to plant: any time of year
You will need:
1 × bugle
1 × gentian
1 × heather
wide, shallow bowl or container
ericaceous compost
The bronze-red leaves of this bugle (Ajuga) provide interest throughout the year and are a subtle foil to the intense colouring of the gentian flowers. Bugle is a really useful evergreen groundcover plant which will spread rapidly, forming carpets of leaves studded with short spikes of usually blue flowers in spring.
Prized for their amazingly vivid blue flowers, gentians (Gentiana) are one of the most beautiful of all autumn plants. The double forms, such as ‘Eugen’s Allerbester’, are especially stunning. They are also much easier to grow than you might think.
The combination of deep green, soft-to-the-touch foliage and short spires of tiny pure white flowers that last and last make this bud-blooming heather (Calluna vulgaris) another autumn winner. The winter kinds will grow in any soil but, in common with the gentian, summer- and autumn-flowering heathers require an acidic soil. To encourage bushy growth, trim off the flower stems once they have finished.
TIP
The gentians and some heathers both require an acidic soil, so plant up this container using ericaceous compost.
On fire! Time to plant: summer
You will need:
1 × barberry
1 × checkerberry
1 × chilli pepper
1 × chrysanthemum
1 × ornamental gourd (for decoration)
large pot
A more compact version of a familiar garden plant, Berberis ‘Tiny Gold’ has golden leaves that turn brilliant red and orange before they fall in autumn. Although happy in the garden, its small size means that it will be perfectly at home in a pot for its entire life and, like all barberries, it’s easy to grow.
Checkerberries (Gaultheria procumbens) form carpets of small glossy green leaves which are usually red-tinted in autumn and winter. The white flowers are followed by clusters of large red berries that release a pungent smell when crushed.
Picking up the colour of the non-edible checkerberry, the fruits of this edible dwarf chilli turn from green to bright pillar-box red as they mature in late summer and autumn. They can be left on the plant for ornamental effect or harvested as you need them for the kitchen.
There are few plants more showy than dwarf chrysanthemums, regardless of the time of year. Their starchy appearance is not to everyone’s taste, but they are unrivalled for autumn flower power. Although perennial, they are seldom worth keeping from year to year so they are best put on the compost heap after flowering and replaced with fresh plants the following year.
TIP
As it flourishes in acidic conditions, to get the best from the checkerberry keep it in its own pot of ericaceous compost and sink this into the display.
Autumn froth Time to plant: summer
You will need:
1 Aster ‘Monte Cassino’
1 ornamental cabbage
1 Sedum
1 Carex ‘Frosted Curls’
large pot
An easy-to-grow hardy perennial, Aster ‘Monte Cassino’ adds height at the back of the pot and produces masses of tiny, frothy, white blooms with yellow centres throughout September and October. After flowering, cut it back by half and plant it out in a sunny border.
Thanks to their colourful pink, white or purple centres and bold shapes, low-growing ornamental cabbages and kales are supremely effective at the front of an autumn container display, creating a strong contrast with softer, blowsier flowers. Although not really edible, they are as easy to grow from seed as ordinary cabbages, so make a note to sow a packet next summer.
Ice plants (Sedum) have many virtues, not least their irresistibility to butterflies and beneficial insects such as hoverflies and bees. Their glaucous, succulent foliage looks attractive towards the back of a pot, and in autumn their pinkish-red broccoli-like flowerheads will rise above the kale.
As grasses fade, they have bags of charm and interest. Carex ‘Frosted Curls’ is a first-rate choice, growing only 15–30cm (6–12in) high. Put it where it can gracefully cascade over the pot’s sides.
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Cut the aster and carex back to the ground in spring and they will shoot afresh for the autumn.
