Do away with Winter grey! Bring a welcome splash of colour to your winter garden by planting flowers that will bloom over the winter months. My all time favourites for winter colour in the garden are:

• pansies,
• violas,
• polyanthus (primroses)

Step One: When to Plant

I start planting seedlings for winter colour in March and continue planting through to August. I plant in stages to extend flowering through to late spring and that way they don’t all flower at once. By late spring my summer flowering annuals are well on their way.

Pansies and violas are perennials. Perennials are any plants that live for three years or more, flowering each year. Polyanthus are perennials from the primula family and are sometimes referred to as primroses. The primula family also includes two other really popular varieties for winter colour namely, primula malacoides (fairy primrose) and primula obconica.

Although pansies, violas and polyanthus are perennials, I like to treat them as annuals, planting new fresh seedling plants each autumn as there are always new exciting colours to choose from.

Step Two: How to Plant

You can buy seedlings in packs or "Potted Colour"from your local Mitre 10 store. Cell pack seedlings are easy to plant in their own root ball of potting mix. I find there is minimal root disturbance and they flower very soon after planting. They are great to plant in containers.

Pansies, violas and polyanthus enjoy a moist, well drained garden soil that has had plenty of compost, mulch and organic material dug in. Add one to two handfuls per square metre of a general garden fertiliser before planting. Keep plants well watered during dry spells.

Pansies will grow in full sun to filtered shade. Polyanthus will also grow in full sun but prefer shade, especially from the hot afternoon sun. Both dislike hot, exposed sunny situations.

Don’t forget to protect those precious seedlings from hungry slugs and snails!

Step Three: How to Prolong Flowering

Pansies, violas and especially polyanthus are partial to a side dressing of dried blood, blood and bone or a general garden fertiliser during the season. This encourages more flowering.

Regular dead heading (removing spent flower heads) will also help prolong flowering. In very wet weather, I try to dead head my winter flowering annuals every couple of days as this helps to prevent botrytis. Botrytis causes flowers to go mouldy and rot.

Step Four: Planting in Containers

Pansies, violas and polyanthus all grow well in containers and I always have a few bowls potted up at my front door as a welcoming gesture. Use a quality potting mix that has a wetting agent and water storage granules added.

A wetting agent such as Saturaid helps channel the water to the plants’ roots where it is needed. Water storage granules such as Crystal Rain act as a mini water reservoir, keeping the potting mix moist.

Regularly water your containers, a few showers of rain are not usually enough to give plants a good soak. Adjust watering according to the weather. With regular watering, and a side dressing of a controlled release fertiliser such as Osmocote success is guaranteed.