Across Canada, a beautiful trend is taking root as more people embrace the joy of winter porch pots. Gardening expert Brian Minter expresses his amazement at their growing popularity, noting these containers bring refreshing new colour to homes, apartments, and condos from now right through until spring.
Creating Instant Winter Magic
According to Minter, you can achieve a wonderful natural look in just a few minutes that's guaranteed to lift your spirits during the darker months. The transformation begins with understanding that cities' parks departments and commercial complexes are already adding cut greens to their summer planters to beautify urban spaces.
The secret lies in combining assorted cut greens with decorative elements like white birch poles, brilliant red, yellow and orange stems of shrub dogwoods, and deciduous holly branches loaded with vibrant, colourful berries. These simple additions can make any container come alive with seasonal charm.
Building Your Winter Container Foundation
Starting in late September or early October, Minter recommends taking your containers to the next level by replanting summer containers with hardy plants that will last through the colder months. The foundation begins with soil preparation: a very open, porous soil blend that holds moisture while allowing excess water from heavy autumn rains to drain quickly.
Container soils with plenty of aggregate, like fine fir bark mulch and perlite, are essential. You can find these at most garden stores or create your own by mixing Sunshine #4 or ProMix HP with about one-third fine bark. This soil type proves critical for both winter container plants and the cut greens added in late November or December.
Selecting Plants for Winter Interest
Minter emphasizes that we've never had such an amazing collection of plants for winter colour as we do now. For an upright focal point, he often selects narrow evergreens ideal for smaller gardens or large containers, including narrow yew, columnar boxwood like Graham Blandy, Sky Pencil Japanese holly, or the yew-like cephalotaxus for certain combinations.
Evergreen perennials provide rich fullness, with options like blue-green Euphorbia wulfenii, the gold variety E. Ascot Rainbow, and the white and green E. Tasmanian Tiger. The many vibrant colours of heucheras—from hot lime and reds to burgundies and purples—add much-needed colour during the grey winter months.
Evergreen broadleaves like Thunderbolt lonicera, which spills nicely over container edges, serve as main attractions, while evergreen grasses from the carex family, available in a wide colour range, also make excellent spillers that draw attention.
Additional plants that elevate planter aesthetics include compact nandinas, especially Gulf Stream that turns red in the cold, and variegated holly like Osmanthus Goshiki. The best part about these colourful evergreens is their hardiness—as zone 5 and 6 plants, they're rated for Canadian winters.
Adding the Festive Finishing Touches
You can incorporate cut greens anytime to shift your planters' focus toward winter and the upcoming festive season. The beautiful aspect of this approach is that when the festive season concludes and the cut greens are removed, your containers will already look prepared for spring, especially if you add winter pansies, four-inch started bulbs, or primulas.
Minter's method ensures your outdoor spaces remain vibrant and welcoming throughout the entire winter season, proving that with a few stems and a little imagination, you can turn a lovely cool season container into a spectacular winter display that brings joy during the year's darkest months.
