Updating, or starting, a planter for the winter season is one way to extend your gardening season. Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you can’t have something happening in your garden!

You just have to be careful to, of course, have winter hardy plants. And, depending on your Zone, you may not be able to use terra cotta planters. Here, in Zone 7b/8a, I have actually left a few terra cotta pots outside all winter with varying degrees of success. The worst that will happen is it will crack. But even so, if it’s not too bad you can continue to use it.

A ceramic glazed pot will do much better and I haven’t had a problem here in the Piedmont.

Remember this post about containers?
Scroll to the end to see this same planter:

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Here is the same planter in October, 2015:

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These two, above and below, were a year ago. I had just been to Montrose Garden for a workshop and came home with acoris gramineus and microbiata decussata
to which I added asiatic jasmine and some pansies.

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Last spring, after the pansies had died (from the heat..) I added this
euphorbia ‘jade dragon’
You can just see the canna leaf over there on the right. Hmmm: it didn’t do much all summer but I will leave it and see if the second year is a charm.

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Another wonderful idea for cold weather planters is pansies and violas. Here I planted violas as I find they withstand the cold better than their cousins, the pansies. They don’t seem to shrink up when hit with cold nights. In fact, a little ice makes them look magical!

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In conclusion I would just say that I can’t stop gardening no matter the weather. And, of course, there are always paperwhite bulbs to grow indoors…  If you haven’t yet tried these go to your local garden center and get some!

I’ll be back with a shopping-information-packed post on Monday so I hope you will join me then.

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