Colourful winter containers

Credit: GAP Photos/Graham Strong

The night is long, the day grey, and you’re craving containers with contrast and brightness!

Besides poinsettias, garden centres are brimming with choices: Skimmia “in berry” (shown is S. reevesiana, but any one with berries is perfect), Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’, cute evergreen conifers and broadleaf evergreens like this variegated Aucuba.

If your taste runs toward monochromatic, look for kale in white/green variegation and plants with white berries or flowers.

Other possibilities are natives Vaccinium vitis-idaea (lingonberry), Symphoricarpos albus (snowberry), perky Gaultheria procumbens (winterberry). Squash a berry between your fingers, inhale the fragrance, and you’ll vividly remember a particular chewing gum.

Red- or yellow-twigged dogwood or other willowy branches add vertical elements. Gild the lily by entwining your creation with tiny lights. Or “underlight” with candles or lanterns. Later, you can transplant the entire cast of characters into your garden.

—Sharon Hanna