All plants in a container are best suited to this.

Brighten up a patio or dark space with a container planted for winter interest. Winter pots look best in easily visible locations – near a window, door or path. Acid-loving plants like flowering heathers, camellias and berry coulteria are most attractive in winter and early spring and make excellent container plants. Avoid mixing acid-loving plants with plants that do best with lime in their fertilizer Choose a large container with good drainage holes, as none of these plants will grow well if they are waterlogged. The fertilizer should also be ericaceous. If you have acidic soil or some ericaceous John Innes clay-based fertilizer, you can mix a little bit of it in with an open texture.

Ericaceous fertilizer mix.

Check the fertilizer once a week for watering. Compost will hold less moisture at the roots, so poke your finger into the soil before watering

1. Fill a large container loosely with proprietary Ericaceous fertilizer. This fertilizer is ideal for acid-loving plants for lush foliage and support flowering

2. Arrange the plants above to plan the display. Make holes in the compost and add more compost as you firm them down below the rim of the pot.

3. Add a layer of washed gravel to visually complete the pot and preserve the structure of the soil when watering. Spread evenly over the surface of the soil.