DREARY DAYS AHEAD – ADD SOME COLOR!

Soon all of the autumn leaves will fall and things will begin to look a little bleak.  While I do enjoy the rest winter provides my back and knees, I miss seeing color in the landscape.  Most people start adding colorful blinking lights, inflatable snow globes and bobbing deer.  Unfortunately this method is only effective at night…what about during the grey mornings and days?

Over the years I have found a few ways to keep my eye and mind engaged as I look out the window.   Also, with the multiple holidays coming up, it’s nice to add something cheerful near your front entrance or porch. 

Add annual plants – while I don’t usually use a lot of annual plants (a.ka. bedding plants), I think they are very valuable during the next few months for adding some liveliness to the garden.  Violets, pansies, cyclamens and primroses can be purchased in six-packs or 4” pots.  Plant them now and they will look good for the next four months.  Fill in empty spots and edges near your front door or path.

Refresh your pots – it’s time to pull out the dried-up marigolds and replace with annuals or interesting foliage plants such as succulents or coprosmas.  During the summer your porch might be an oven but during the winter it becomes a place where you can place almost any plant.  Just remember that when the weather warms up you’ll need to move them to a cooler spot.

Accessorize – pick up a colorful pot, wreath or interesting object and add it to your porch display.  I have a dried grapevine sphere that I picked up a long time ago and I always add it to my pumpkin porchscape for Thanksgiving.  I often turn a colorful (and chipped) pot upside down and use it as a plant stand.  Something with texture or bright color will liven up your spot.