Flowers for autumn and winter pots

Indoor pots

A vase of fresh flowers fills a room with welcoming vitality in a way that fake flowers never can. Cut flowers can last weeks if the water is changed regularly, and a flowering houseplant lasts even longer.

Showy gerberas, begonias, African violets, kalanchoes and chrysanthemums offer a wide range of bright and beautiful colours. Elegant moth orchids and anthuriums are surprisingly easy care, with glossy green leaves and flowers that last for many months.

Chrysanthemums perform beautifully in pots indoors or out. Once they have finished flowering inside they can be cut back and planted in the garden or repotted for another season indoors.

Spectacular cyclamen flower endlessly in a cool light position. Hot pink, red or white, they hale from parts of the Middle East and Mediterranean with cool winters and dry summers. This makes them ideally suited as winter houseplants for cooler spots and need very little watering. The quickest way to kill a cyclamen is to sit it next to the heater and give it too much to drink.

Indoor cyclamen are mainly the larger flowered hybrids. They can also be grown outdoors, but the smaller flowered cyclamen are generally the most weather resistant varieties for outdoor pots.

Outdoor pots

Brightly coloured flowers make a welcoming scene at the front door. A simple bowl of freshly potted flowering annuals on an outdoor table will draw us out into the fresh air on a cool autumn day. Plants in pots are easier to care for in winter as they take a lot less watering.

Mini cyclamen perform well in outdoor pots where they receive good light and protection from hot sun and weather extremes like heavy rain, hail and frost. With attractive foliage topped with dainty flowers these dependable little perennials grow from bulb-like structures called corms. Today’s modern minis are the result of extensive breeding to develop tough, prolific and long flowering plants for autumn and winter gardens. Choose pristine white or rich lipstick tones of pink, red and purple.

Available in just about every colour you heart desires, pansies and violas bloom brightly though autumn, winter and spring. Today’s high-performance strains tolerate a wide range of temperatures, often flowering well into the summer months. Both pansies and violas are among the best flowers for pots, hanging baskets and window boxes and make great companions for spring flowering bulbs. Protect them from snails, and deadhead and feed them to keep the mass of flowers coming. If autumn planted pansies turn tatty, trim them back and feed them. A fresh crop of colour will soon appear.

Polyanthus put on a kaleidoscope of colours and a dependable flowering performance throughout the cooler months. The modern poly has come a long way since the English primrose was first crossed with the cowslip, and plant breeders are constantly adding new fashion colours to the mix.

Single potted pansies and polyanthus, known as ‘potted colour’, are super easy to transplant into bigger pots or garden soil without disturbing their roots. Because they come already flowering, we can select our favourite colours for an instant display that gets better and better as the plants settle in for their growing season.

For a different look in large pots or urns, try Ornamental Kale. These classy cabbages can be found in punnets or as ‘potted colour’ seedlings. Or grow your own from autumn sown seed. In vibrant shades of purple, pink, green and creamy white, ornamental kale combines beautifully as accent plants among winter flowering annuals. If the seedlings are planted closer together, the heads will be smaller with stems long enough for a vase.

Autumn is planting time for spring flowering bulbs. Try beautiful fragrant hyacinths, tulips, freesias, bluebells or daffodils for stunning late winter and early spring displays in pots, indoors or out.

Growing flowering annuals in pots

1. Use fresh, top quality container mix, not garden soil.
2. Plant generously. A full container has the most impact!
3. Check drainage. Raise large pots on pot feet or bricks. Remove any saucers from outdoor plants.
4. Remove spent flowers to encourage continuous flowering. If autumn planted pansies get tatty over winter, trim and feed to bring on a fresh flush of flowers.
5. Most container mixes come with nutrients to last three months, but with heavy rain this may be reduced. Supplement with controlled-release or liquid fertiliser to keep flowers coming in spring.
6. Beware of slugs and snails. Apply slug bait if necessary.

Cyclamen care

Cyclamen originate from Mediterranean climates where winters are cold and summers are dry. They are much tougher than their exquisite looks suggest, but they have their preferences.

A well lit location
Place in bright indirect light, away from direct sun. An unheated room is ideal, as cool temperatures prolong flowering.

On the dry side
Keep the potting mix moist but not wet. Watering from the base of the plant, via the saucer, avoids wetting the corm, which is susceptible to disease. A yellow leaf is the first sign of too much water. If this happens, let the potting mix dry out for a couple of weeks (not to wilting stage), then resume cautious watering. A thirsty cyclamen plant will shed its lower leaves and flowers, but retains the newest leaves, which are most vital for survival.

Grooming
Remove spent blooms by holding the stem close to its base and giving a sharp pull to break it cleanly from the corm. Decaying left over stems invite disease.

After flowering
At the end of winter as the flowers and leaves die down, you can keep your cyclamen plant going if the tuber is kept dry. Put the pot outdoors for summer, turned on its side. In autumn repot into fresh potting mix and resume watering. Once the leaves appear, feed fortnightly with diluted liquid fertiliser until the flower buds begin to form.