The best thing about gardening in the Pacific Northwest is our year-round climate.  We don’t have to put our tools away for the winter, but instead can discover the many options available for color and texture during the cold season of the year. Here are a few of the containers I’ve put together for October through March.

This year my favorite plant for the cooler months are ferns.  I love the height they give to a ctontainer, as well as a beautiful vibrant green. I’m experimenting with the Himalayan Maidenhair fern, Adiantum venustum, to see how it takes the cold, I might have to do some clean-up or even swap it out with something else if it dies.  I’ve also used Sword Ferns, Polystichum munitum, Alaskan Ferns, Polystichum setiferum, and Tassel Ferns Polystichum polyblepharum for a variety of texture.  Pansies and violas add that bright pop of color and other plants I use are Heucheras, Hebes, Juncus, Grasses, Hellebores, Ivy and Vinca.

Something new for me this year is underplanting with bulbs.  I’ve added daffodils and tulip bulbs around the larger plants and grouped in the middle.  I’m hoping that in the early spring this will give the containers a new breath of life and hold them over until it’s time to plant summer annuals.  And then the planting begins again.