How can we have colour through the winter in the cottage garden style?
I’ve been round the garden and taken pics of any colour I can find, other than green.
Red clay pebbles used as a top dressing and a splash of colour
As well as red pots, you can buy clay pebbles in various colours that look and feel like Maltesers, to top dress the pots. It’s mainly to aid watering and to stop the soil splashing away but I think it looks nicer than brown earth, especially when there’s nothing showing in the pot.
Here is the bag of the red ones
I use red for some and lovely pinky brown Hydroleca pebbles for others.
They are the top dressing for my acer in its pot.
Acers thrive in a pot and I love the Hydroleca pebbles on top
Colour from plants
This Epimedium in a shallow pot looks great all year round and then goes red right now. They are fantastic plants. Check them out from online nurseries.
An Epimedium which has probably outgrown its pot but is struggling on heroically
Even some plastic trugs lying about can add a contrast to the greens and browns in the front garden.
Trugs come in a rainbow of colours and of course are indispensable in the garden
The edge of my little pond, below, is encircled by a collection of old terracotta pots – and they have such a lovely warm natural colour. New ones would do just as well; the contrast of green with the rust colour is lovely all the year around but in the winter when there’s a lot of dying greenery they sing out against the plants and the dark water. I got these from Jsgardens.co.uk years ago and even when they break they look just fine.
The orange of the terracotta pots looks warm and contrasts so well with all greens
You might think the colour of your watering can doesn’t matter much but why not have a lovely red one rather than green, black or grey. It’s in the dark months that these little things add up to a colourful garden rather than a dull one.
A Haws watering can that is well balanced and easy to carry as well as colourful
Of course an acer is the star of an autumn garden while it holds its leaves
I wrote about having permanent colour in the garden in the summer here using furniture and pots.
It’s easy to have bursting colour in summer but even then in my garden there isn’t that much colour from plants.
Below is that stalwart salvia “Amistad” which flowers from July/August through to Christmas if you’re lucky. The purple shines out in the low light of autumn. Cold places lift them indoors for the winter but here in London it’s safe to leave them out and hope for the best.
Nice cat’s bottom too
You can see how dull the paving looks from October onwards, getting blacker and slimier through the winter. I usually power wash it in late winter to start the year but till then it’s not much to lift the heart. That’s why I need all these other little things to brighten up the garden.
The paving looks wonderful when I’ve cleaned it but dark and slippery when I haven’t
So to sum up, in a small garden I get colour in the dark days from bits here and there; trugs, pots, decorative pebbles, watering can, and of course furniture. It’s best to appreciate what we’ve got in the dark months and wait for the yellow crocus and early daffodils to appear in February.
Thanks for taking a look at my blog this month and let’s hope 2021 brings us lots of gardening joy.
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