I have a great wall planter that my friend Pamela gave to me. It’s shallow, and doesn’t have a drainage hole, so during the summer it normally gets planted with succulents. This past season I tucked in some Erodium reichardii that I had from a previous project, and that sweet, spreading alpine geranium is still looking fairly good in December. I wanted to make the planter a bit more cheerful as we head into the cold and gritty part of winter, however, so today’s post is a reminder that it’s never to late to refresh a container planting!
Here’s how the container looked now that the succulents have gotten killed by the cold. The Erodium is hardy to a zone 5 I think, so although it will probably die off once it gets really cold, right now it still looks decent. I want to leave some of it in this wall planter to see just how hardy it really is, but I also want the container to have some color.
Gaultheria procumbens to the rescue! A small pot of our native wintergreen is just what this wall planter needed. I removed the Erodium, placed the wintergreen in the center, and tucked the alpine geranium on both ends so it will be green as long as the weather allows. It occurs to me that moss would also look great in this wall basket in the winter….
If a container can be left outside in the winter without damage, consider placing a new plant or arrangement there frequently. In the cold season we need all the reminders of growth we can get.
