Create a winter planter with conifers

Choosing Suitable and Diverse Conifers

Perfect Dwarf Conifers for Containers

While conifers have lost some popularity in recent years, they remain interesting plants. It’s generally not their flowering that makes them charming, but they have other advantages: they are easy to care for, frost-resistant, and decorative all year round thanks to their evergreen foliage. Classic varieties are cultivated in large gardens, while dwarf varieties can fit anywhere. They are ideal for creating pots or containers that will brighten up winter, but they can also, of course, remain in place during other seasons.

Dwarf varieties are numerous and varied enough to satisfy all tastes. Choose them based on your exposure (sunny, shady, semi-shaded, sheltered) and your climatic conditions (prevailing winds, rainy winters or those subject to severe frosts, etc.). For example, a Canadian hemlock ‘Cole’s Prostrate’ enjoys cool shade (moist), while Cryptomeria japonica ‘Vilmorin Gold’ or Japanese hinoki cypress ‘Nana Aurea’ will require a sunny exposure.

Opt for small plants measuring between 20 cm and 1.5 metres for container cultivation.

Playing with Shapes, Textures, and Heights

For a beautiful winter container, turn to plants with varied silhouettes: globular, creeping, conical, columnar, trailing, upright, etc. Mix different heights to create volume in your container and experiment with various textures, from the soft and mossy to the spiky and prickly.

Here are a few examples:

• The dwarf spruce Picea mariorika ‘Machala’ produces somewhat shaggy whorled branches, forming a lovely pyramidal dome;
• The mountain pine Pinus mugo ‘Varella’ resembles a true little plant hedgehog, with its ball-shaped silhouette and long spiky needles;
• The Canadian arborvitae ‘Mirjam’ forms an almost perfect sphere, very graphic, with soft branches;
• The false cypress from Japan has a wild appearance, with its upright branches growing a bit as they please;
• The ‘Hime-Sawara’ cypress has a spreading habit, forming a true little groundcover cushion;
• The white spruce offers a well-conical silhouette, composed of short, upright needles, perfect for a Japanese-inspired container or a contemporary pot.

Playing with Colours

Dwarf conifers also offer a beautiful diversity of foliage colours, ranging from classic green to golden-yellow, with greyish, bluish, or reddish hues. Some even have changing colours depending on the season, modestly renewing the display throughout the year.

• The Pinus nigra ‘Oregon Green’ produces astonishing young shoots that are initially white, before turning to the typical green of the species;
• The Thuja occidentalis ‘Golden Tuffet’ has yellow foliage in summer, taking on warm orange to bronze hues in winter;
• The Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Blue Moon’ forms, as its name suggests, a beautiful ball of silver-blue foliage, while the Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Carpet’ makes a perfect groundcover in the same shades;
• The Japanese thuja ‘Solar Flare’, with its fine, cut foliage reminiscent of certain fern fronds, rewards us with shades ranging from golden yellow to soft yellow as it ages;
• The horizontal juniper ‘Limeglow’ prefers evolving foliage, from lemon green to golden in summer, then bronze-purple in winter.

Various conifers with beautiful textures and colours: Pinus mugo ‘Varella’, Juniperus horizontalis ‘Limeglow’, Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Carpet’, Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Aura’, Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Blue Moon’, Picea glauca ‘Sun on the Sky’, Thuja occidentalis ‘Mirjam’

Add plants and complementary elements

Other Plants for Winter Containers

Dwarf conifers make excellent companions for other plants. In a rather acidic substrate like heather soil, pair them with delightful winter heathers, which also require minimal maintenance. Try the stunning pink-magenta flowering of Erica x darleyensis ‘Kramer’s Rote’ or the small pink-mauve bells of ‘Darley Dale’.

In a cool, semi-shaded position, opt for an ivy whose evergreen foliage will remain decorative throughout winter in your container. Consider the bright leaves of the small Hedera helix ‘Kolibri’, variegated with cream, which will beautifully complement our dwarf conifers. Also think about plants with decorative berries in winter, such as creeping wintergreen, Skimmia japonica ‘Pink Dwarf’, or ‘Rubesta’.

In a sunnier position with well-drained soil (that does not retain excess water), consider robust houseleeks with their decorative rosettes, allowing you to create a modern, graphic winter container. Among the herbs, a golden lemon thyme will bring a lovely light with its variegated foliage in regions with milder winters (down to -15°C). Also try a silver santolina or ‘Lemon Fizz’, which is hardier (around -20°C).

If you fancy some flowers, which will require a bit more maintenance, look to autumn camellias like Camellia x hiemalis ‘Bonanza’, with its double red-pink blooms from October to January. Paired with a dwarf conifer with green foliage, they will create a beautiful display in festive colours. Also consider hellebores like ‘Linda’, which flowers in white for a true seasonal palette.

Finally, grasses always add a touch of lightness to containers or pots. Choose between Carex or Miscanthus, whose stems and leaves will have beautifully dried by late autumn.

Some perennials for varied exposures and conditions: Skimmia japonica ‘Rubesta’, Helleborus lemperii hgc ‘Linda’, Gaultheria procumbens, Erica darleyensis ‘Kramer’s Rote’, Hedera Helix ‘Kolibri’, Santolina chamaecyparissus, Santolina ‘Lemon Fizz’

Seasonal Decorative Elements

You can add some ornamental elements to your winter container to bring a bit more relief to the display. Choose natural decorations like branches of holly gathered from the forest, pine cones, pieces of driftwood, twisted hazel branches, small bundles of wood…

For a more festive touch, integrate a string of lights, some baubles, bows, or Christmas stars. For a bit of kitsch charm, you can even recycle decorations from your Christmas log. The only limits are those of your imagination!

Planting and maintaining your winter planter

“`html

The Container

To get through winter without worry, the chosen container must be frost-resistant. Therefore, avoid terracotta pots or planters and prefer wood, plastic, hypertufa (a stone-like mixture) or concrete. If you love the charm of metal containers, such as reclaimed zinc troughs or cast iron pots, remember that these materials can sometimes be sensitive to frost depending on their quality. In this case, provide them with a sufficiently sheltered location.

No matter the shape of your planter, whether rectangular, square, or round, it must be wide enough to grow at least 3 to 4 conifers. Therefore, plan for a minimum diameter or width of 40 cm for the same depth.

Finally, choose a container that is definitely drained, so that excess water can flow out without risking root rot for the plants. Do not place a saucer under your container.

Various containers for planters

The Substrate

Opt for a good multi-purpose compost or a compost for planters and pots, which you can mix with a bit of heather soil to achieve a more acidic pH, often appreciated by conifers.

Feel free to add a handful of river sand, clay balls, or gravel to lighten the mix and improve drainage.

Optionally, you can add a bit of slow-release universal fertiliser to promote the growth of your plants or a handful of well-decomposed kitchen compost.

Planting

Planting should ideally be done at the beginning of autumn. Before you start, gather all the elements you wish to include in your planter to create your ideal arrangement.

To facilitate the removal of your young plants from their pots and rehydrate their root ball before planting, you can soak them in a bucket or basin of water for about twenty minutes.

1. Install a thin layer of drainage of 2 to 3 cm at the bottom of the container (clay balls, gravel, broken terracotta…).
2. Fill the container with substrate to 2/3 full.
3. Remove the plants from their containers and gently untangle the root system if necessary.
4. Use a dibber or trowel to make planting holes and install your plants, maintaining a distance of about 15 cm between each. Depending on the shape of your container, you can choose a horizontal alignment or staggered arrangement.
5. Top up with substrate and firm down with your fingers.
6. Water generously.
7. You can add a mineral mulch (slate, pumice…) or organic mulch (shells, chips, bark, plant mulch…) for aesthetics at the base of the plants (optional).

Additionally, for more tips, feel free to read our article “How to Succeed with Your Window Boxes?”.

Maintenance

The advantage of our winter conifer planter is that it requires almost no maintenance. Natural rainfall is usually sufficient to meet the water needs of the plants. In case of a dry winter or a sheltered situation, simply water as soon as the substrate has dried out on the top few centimetres.

Conifers are hardy plants, rarely diseased, but pot cultivation can make them more sensitive than in open ground. To learn more, consult our article on the main diseases and pests of conifers.

Finally, since conifers are slow-growing plants, your winter planter can last several years before the plants feel cramped and need either repotting or transplanting to the garden.
“`