Boxwood or heather.New hardy to the garden are chosen with love and care

If you are going to grow heather in a box, pour a drainage layer of expanded clay, gravel or pebbles on the bottom and add peat substrate. The heather will benefit from a location with an influx of sunlight and will cope if you sometimes forget to water it regularly. If you want to extend the variety of your box even more, plant it with heather and heather.

Both related plants look similar and have similar requirements for placement and care. The heather, which has panicle-like branched shoots with needle-like leaves, blooms from late summer to late autumn, and the frost-resistant heather keeps its flowers until spring. In the same container, they get along well with ivy, for example.

If you want your heather to stay in shape throughout the winter, it is best to plant it in containers in autumn. Give it a mixture of peat and sand, i.e. soil that will be acidic, lighter and well permeable. If you are going to cut the individual bushes together, leave more space for them. The space between them can be filled with, for example, mulch bark. The heather will repay you for your care, because sometimes it is able to bloom even in the middle of winter.

His Latin name Calluna comes from ancient Greek, which is said to have been used for sweeping tools. Brooms and brooms were made from heather twigs. When you buy a plant with white flowers, it is guaranteed to bring good luck not only to your balcony.

With guaranteed advice on how to tell heather from heather, it gets worse. The first recommendation requires sharp eyesight. If you take a close look, you will see that the heather flower is composed of five small petals and the crown is divided into separate petals, while the heather flower usually consists of only four petals, which are usually fused into a tubular or cup-shaped flower.

The popular designation of heather by the name erica is also confusing, as erica is also the Latin name for heather. When in gardening, in case of doubt or forgotten glasses, you reach for a pot with richer and more expressive flowers that cover the entire bush, you are most likely holding a container of heather in your hand.

The distinguishing sign of heather is the easily visible green needle leaves. If you want to grow them in the garden, a place with enough sunlight is ideal. Heather does better with partial shade. Do not change their habitat often, heather or heathers do not benefit from transplanting. Wait a few years for them to take root.

Among other candidates for planting a winter box are ornamental cabbage, cabbage or wire vine or beautiful head. This annual, which resembles a silver wire, will be killed by the frost, but it will look alive. Before it starts to freeze, it requires occasional watering, after it freezes you don't have to worry about it at all.

In a box on protected balconies or loggias, you can also plant other plants with a greater chance of successful wintering, such as hollies, mini chrysanthemums, pansies, sedums, hebes or marigolds. Or try placing a skeleton of boxwood, tiny conifers or rockrose in the growing container and stick ornamental twigs and fruits to them in winter. There are no limits to invention.

Don't forget that evergreen plants need watering even during the winter. Put more water in a bright and warm place, water every week, in a cold and dark place just a little, sometimes once every three weeks is enough. Pour off the excess water. If you are using a self-watering box, the water tank should be empty before the frost arrives.

Green leaves, colorful fruits

There are not many frost-resistant plants that beautify outdoor containers with flowers and fruits in winter. Nevertheless, you will find several of them in the gardening offers. They include, for example, the Japanese skimmy. It has beautiful green glossy leaves that are decorative in their own right, add a rich inflorescence of white pink panicles and finally a flood of bright red berries that decorate the plant from autumn to spring.

Even a beginner can take care of this long-lived shrub, which grows slowly and does not take up too much space. However, keep in mind that this is a dioecious plant, so you will need one male and two to three females, otherwise you will not get crimson fruit balls in winter. Choose a site in partial shade, preferably closer to the wall of the house.

Skimia prefers a slightly acidic environment, so when planting in a container, add a few scoops of clean peat to the horticultural substrate. If severe frosts are forecast, cover the skimia with a non-woven fabric.

Cranberries are reminiscent of the fruits of the livalye lying down, which decorate the bush from autumn to spring. If your children taste them, they will not harm them, on the contrary. They are medicinal. This evergreen groundcover shrub will need a substrate for acid-loving plants.

Another attractive choice for the winter season is the holly, a deciduous shrub with green or yellow-green leaves, whose red berries refresh gloomy winter days.

With its small, shiny, leathery leaves, boxwood, a favorite of our ancestors, will be an ideal candidate for growing in outdoor containers, for example in the form of bonsai, as it tolerates regular pruning well. Give it a well-drained, slightly calcareous soil and find a spot in partial shade. In order to cope with frosts, place the flower pot in a larger container, fill the space between the two flower pots, for example, with crushed polystyrene and move the plant to a protected place.

Grateful and unpretentious are ornamental grasses that stand out nicely on a loggia or terrace. For example, a graceful fescue that does not grow to a great height is suitable for the container. Choose a pot wide enough for her to grow and develop a healthy root system. Mix a mixture of compost and perlite into the soil.

Conifer planters

Conifers are another attractive and especially hardy candidate for growing in outdoor containers because they are covered with a layer of wax that protects them from dehydration. The most widespread cultivars are spruce, pine, thuja, fir and juniper, but larches, yews, cedars and sequoias are also found as conifers.

If they get enough nutrients, light and moisture and you take care of them regularly, they will bring you joy for many years. Most species do better in sunny or semi-shady habitats, but they can also handle the shade. Yew only requires shade exclusively. When growing in a container, it is necessary to ensure a plentiful supply of nutrients, which the plants consume more quickly.

The same applies to irrigation, but you need to be careful about overflowing, which is also not good for the plant. The container must be large enough and requires functional drainage to drain away excess water. The drainage layer is usually made of clay-sandy granules, ecological gravel or perlite.

Conifers for container growing are usually planted in the fall. In the first year, protect the flowerpot with straw, jute or bubble wrap so that the root ball does not freeze. Conifers must be watered during the winter when the air temperature rises above zero.

The signal that your pine tree is thirsty is usually local browning. However, lack of light and air can also be the cause. You can help with the right but careful cut, too radical a cut can do the exact opposite. Another reason could be root rot, pests or fungi.

The combination of conifers with heathers, heathers or red-fruited licorice has a pleasant effect. You can complement large plants with rock plants, holly, holly or mahogany holly.

Recommendations at the end

For all frost-resistant plants, you have to water them even during the winter, otherwise the frost will dry them out. If possible, move your green beauties to more covered and shady locations to prevent the soil from drying out. Also take care of the insulation of the containers. The walls of the flower pot can be lined from the inside with a layer of polystyrene. Corner containers are especially suitable for this.

You will save yourself a lot of trouble if you purchase containers made of frost-resistant materials, such as fiberglass. The polystyrene plate on which you place the flowerpot also helps prevent the flowerpot from freezing from below. Winter penetrates from all sides, it is not a bad idea to wrap the flower pot from the outside in permeable and breathable materials, such as burlap, jute or jute.

Beware of temperature fluctuations on glazed loggias oriented to the south or west. With the influx of sunlight during the day, the temperature rises dizzyingly high, in winter it quickly drops below zero. Choose plants that can handle these fluctuations, for example conifers or heather. However, they also need sufficient ventilation.

Nettles and frost

Is it really true that frost does not burn nettles? Only half. The higher aerial part of the plant will be destroyed by frost. However, the nettle survives at the roots and actually blooms throughout the winter. You can also pick fresh young leaves in January or February. As the snow melts, the nettle starts to turn green.

Evergreen resistant conifers Kneeling pine - low, slow-growing varieties such as Columnaris, Pumilio or Varella are suitable for outdoor pots. However, they can only handle temperatures up to -15 °C. Red yew - a slow-growing conifer takes shape well. However, it is poisonous, so it is not suitable where children move. Juniper - its blue berries look beautiful not only on twigs, suitable varieties are rock juniper or scaly juniper. Gray spruce - dwarf forms of gray spruce come from North America. Thanks to its conical shape, it looks good in the garden and in a flowerpot. Evergreen, hardy deciduous trees Boxwood (buxus) – you can shape a robust, slow-growing bush by trimming it. Sour cherry – only slow-growing low species, such as Herbergia or Otto Luyken, are suitable for growing in a flower pot. Bamboo – lower varieties with thinner stems are mainly intended for outdoor flower pots. Scarlet hawthorn - has white flowers in spring, red and orange fruits in autumn, small oval leaves all year round. However, it needs a large container. Rhododendrons – small varieties of azurica or Japanese azalea are suitable for pots. Evergreen, hardy perennials Čemerice – will delight you with its flowers from December to April. Winter protection is only necessary in case of bare frost. Lavender - only true lavender can handle low temperatures below freezing. Ornamental grasses - most resistant grasses can survive temperatures down to -20 °C. Their advantage is the colorful colors, from green to blue, red to various shades of bronze. Japanese sedge, Buchanan's sedge or overhanging sedge are wonderful winter decorations.

Author: (ml)