It’s time to refresh those containers full of leggy petunias and wilting zinnias.  Luckily we don’t have to toss our tired pots into the shed for the winter, we can grow plants here in the Pacific Northwest year round.  A winter container might not have the summer zing or the bright excitement of annuals, but we can show off engaging evergreens and subtle shades of color with cool season flowers.  Gardening can continue from autumn into winter, and here are just a few plant possibilities for containers during the colder months of the year.

For trailing:  english ivy, vinca minor, boxleaf honeysuckle

For color:  pansy, heather, cyclamen, chrysanthemums, hellebore, heuchera, ornamental cabbage and kale, euphorbia

For height:  sedge grasses like Carex morrowii or Carex buchanii or  small conifers such as Chamaecyparis ‘blue surprise’ or Juniper ‘Gold Cone’, nandina (heavenly bamboo), Ilex ‘sky pencil’ holly

For evergreen foliage:  autumn fern, sword fern, deer fern, salal, wintergreen, bergenia, lonicera, azalea, ivy, heather, small juniper, spruce, pine or cypress trees, grasses, blue lily turf, euonymous

Chamaecyparis

Variegated Ivy

For Container or Garden