Last Updated on September 29, 2025 by Thompson & Morgan Horticultural Team
Winter bedding brings colour to the garden when you need it most
Image: Bellis perennis ‘Rose’ from T&M
Winter bedding is an easy way to introduce colour to your garden in the coldest months of the year. With so many vibrant colours and forms to choose from, these hardy plants are sure to cheer you up on even the shortest of days. Check out these top tips and tricks from expert bloggers, Instagrammers and YouTube gardeners and fill your outside space with modern, colourful and creative displays.
Browse our full selection of quality winter bedding plants for more ideas.
Choose seasonal colour themes to bring hanging baskets to life
Gently trailing foliage bedding plants like heucherella are ideal for all year round hanging baskets
Image: Heucherella ‘Trailing Yellowstone Falls’ from T&M
Writing for the T&M blog, garden and nature writer Nic Wilson knows a thing or two about making the most of your hanging baskets in winter. Go for a seasonal colour scheme like gold and silver as a starting point, she says, then pick out specific plants to bring the theme to life. See her full article for ideas on how to pack your hanging baskets with attractive foliage, bright berries and beautiful blooms.
Play with heights in winter hanging baskets
Create levels of interest in your winter hanging basket
Image: @talkgardeningtome
Yorkshire-based gardener and Instagrammer Harriet from @talkgardeningtome uses heather to add eye-catching height to her winter hanging basket. Rising up in a vibrant froth of festive colour, the delicate red flowers provide an excellent contrast to the deep purple pansies. We love the draping ivy too! Follow Harriet for fruit, flower and veg growing updates.
Try white and silver for elegant winter window boxes
Foliage colours and textures are just as important in a good winter display
Image: @suesimpsonfennell
Sue Simpson-Fennel replaces her summer window boxes in October. Choosing interesting texture rather than colour, this expert home gardener keeps her display fresh by replanting her boxes with a dreamy white and silver mix of winter bedding including cyclamen, heather and pansies. She also adds senecio for its wonderful frosted foliage. Check out her fabulous garden over at @suesimpsonfennell for a wealth of inspiration.
Create colourful focal points to enjoy from different parts of your home
Dark pink pansies bring festive colour to winter displays
Image: Viola hybrida ‘Rose Shades’ from Thompson & Morgan
Instagrammer Stina, AKA @thehackneygardener, uses dark red pansies and a few springs of ivy to create a gorgeous focal point on a table in her sleeping winter garden. For an extra bit of magic, she pops a tea light into a jam jar to nestle in the middle of the display. As it’s perfectly visible from her cosy indoor space, she gets a lift every time she passes. “Love seeing this from the window as it gets dark in the afternoon!” she says.
Mix winter shrubs and bedding plants for sophisticated displays
Adam lines his decorative terracotta pot to keep the potting mix moist
Image: Adam’s Gardening Guides
Over at Adam’s Gardening Guides, Adam knows just the recipe for planting up a fantastic winter pot. Euphorbia ‘Ascot Rainbow’ brings height, evergreen skimmia ‘Rubella’ has attractive evergreen leaves, a gaultheria has glossy red berries and the perfect finishing touch is a bright yellow viola, he says. Watch his full video for a wealth of excellent tips and to get a sneak peak at his glorious winter patio!
Add a handful of slow release fertiliser to your winter potting mix
A wicker basket makes the perfect home for this mixture of pansies, ivy and primrose
Image: Down To Earth
September is a good month to replant your summer pots, says garden blogger Alan Down from Down To Earth. In fact, if your display relies on winter pansies, “the sooner you plant them, the better the show will be!” In his info-packed article, Alan emphasises the importance of refreshing the compost when you come to clear out and replant your summer containers. Add a handful of slow release fertiliser too, he says. This gradually gives the plants the food they need to flourish over the winter months.
Carefully choose bedding plants to take you from autumn to spring
These compact plants flower from end October to early April
Image: Pansy ‘Frizzle Sizzle Fire’ from T&M
“Pansies easily out-bloom any other winter flowering bedding plant,” enthuses our resident expert Sue Sanderson at the Thompson & Morgan blog. These ‘winter stalwarts’ come in many weird and wonderful colours, shapes and sizes – from the crinkly, large-flowered ‘Frizzle Sizzle Mixed’ to the cool plum tones of ‘Coolwave Raspberry’. Discover Sue’s top 10 winter bedding plants for outstanding winter performers that will transform any outside space.
Plug gaps in herbaceous borders with winter bedding plants
Polyanthus perfectly fills gaps in the border
Image: Polyanthus ‘Most Scented Mix’ from Thompson & Morgan
Writing for the helpful blog Garden Patch, Vincent Andrew says that an excellent way to beef up sparse borders during the colder months is to plug gaps with winter bedding. When tender perennials die back in autumn, they can leave borders a bit sparse. Go for tall flowers like Sweet Williams to fill the backs of beds, and smaller varieties like violas in the front, suggests Vincent. Check out his full article for more ideas on autumn and winter colour.
Pansies are an excellent choice for winter flower power
Pansies come in a wide variety of colours
Image: @russellinthebushes123
Sue from @russellinthebushes123 loves her winter pansies because of their fantastic, long-lasting flowers. After planting in October, her fabulous purple pansy display was still going strong in May the following year! These frilly winter classics pack real bang for their buck. Looking for more cold-season colour ideas? Take a look at her photo of floriferous viola ‘Bunny Ears’.
Plant violas in frost prone parts of the garden
Opt for softer colours for a sophisticated look
Image: @katespottingshed
“Violas bring some much needed colour around the garden and, as long as you keep dead heading, they will bloom all winter long,” says sustainable floral artist Kate. Violas are frost proof too, she says. These perfect little blooms provide plenty of winter cheer. Follow her at @katespottingshed to be inspired by her fantastic floral designs.
Deadhead winter primroses for a longer-lasting display
Deadheading primroses
Image: @mike_thegardener
Want a quick demo on how to deadhead your primroses and keep the plants flowering long into spring? Visit @mike_thegardener for a helpful gardening reel. Mike recommends pinching the faded flowers off with your thumb and forefinger before adding the dead heads to your compost heap. “It’s a lovely, easy-to-do job that gets you outside into the garden, breathing in the fresh spring air, and giving you an injection of Vitamin G,” he says. We can all benefit from more Vitamin Green!
Mix spring bulbs with your winter bedding
Purple and yellow violas combine perfectly with spring daffodils
Image: @charliescottageludlow
Rachel from @charliescottageludlow transforms off-the-shelf, coir-lined, metal baskets with beautifully tactile moss before planting up her winter violas. To give her display even greater staying power, miniature daffodil bulbs promise a burst of new colour next spring. Because her baskets don’t get much rain (under the overhang), Rachel also adds a light sprinkle of water crystals to the compost.
Top bulb lasagnes with winter bedding
Violas lasting well into spring
Image: @grown_by_me_uk
“I didn’t expect my winter bedding plants to still be thriving,” says Kate from @grown_by_me_uk. She planted these bright violas on top of her tulip and daffodil pots last autumn, and they’re still going strong in May, long after the spring bulbs have come and gone. “Good on these pretty little things,” she adds. “They’re now one of the only plants still blooming in my pots and they’ve been loving all this rain.”
Try primroses for a tenacious bloom
Late winter primroses in the sunshine
Image: @Iamagardener
“I love their tenacity,” says Laura from @Iamagardener, extolling the virtues of the gorgeous primroses that have endured cold, rain, wind and snow to emerge triumphant in late winter. She plants her primroses in autumn as leafy plugs, so there’s something colourful to look forward to before the garden fully awakes. Easy to care for, she says they just need “a little deadheading, the odd inspection for mould and a top dressing of gravel to aid drainage and reduce water splashes.”
We hope you’ve enjoyed these top tips and tricks for growing the best winter bedding. Find more fabulous advice on winter flowers over at our dedicated hub page. And you can stay up to date by following us on Instagram where you’ll see our latest products and gardening advice.
Sophie Essex is a freelance garden writer with a passion for horticulture and environmental conservation. With a BSc in Botany/Plant Biology from the University of Plymouth, she further honed her expertise through a Masters of Science in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants from The University of Edinburgh.
Sophie has also worked as a professional gardener and landscaper, showcasing her practical skills by transforming outdoor spaces. Her commitment to fieldwork is further evident in her acquisition of a Certificate in Field Botany from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and over the years, she has interned at the Eden Project, Cornwall, the National Trust for Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Find more information about Sophie over at LinkedIn.