Pots of colour for the winter garden

• Cyclamens (pictured) can provide beautiful colour for months. Bring flowering cyclamens inside, in a brightly lit room, during the day to admire them, but then move them outside at night, as they don't like heated rooms. Ensure the potting mix is kept only just moist, as overwatering can cause the roots and corm to rot. 
• Pansies have been winter favourites for generations. Position a pot of pansies (or violas) in a sunny spot in a garden or outdoor area and they'll flower beautifully for months. Remove spent flowers regularly to promote longer flowering. 
• Polyanthus come in a range of vibrant colours, including pinks, reds, blues, yellows and white. Their compact size makes them perfect for growing in pots and they'll grow happily in full sun or part shade. 
• Cineraria are a wonderful choice for partly shaded areas, their clusters of flowers creating a vibrant display. Cinerarias can be grown from seed during summer and autumn or purchased as seedlings during winter.  

And during winter, you can plan ahead for spring colour by planting seedlings and bulbs.

• Compact varieties of Sweet Peas, such as Bijou, are the best choice for growing in pots. Their sweetly fragrant and colourful flowers during spring are a delight. Garden centres have sweet pea seedlings available during winter and are ideal for growing in a 30 cm diameter pot.
• Spring flowering bulbs like jonquils, daffodils and hyacinths are readily available for planting during autumn, however many garden centres will have potted plants available for sale during winter. Position the pot in full sun and watch for the exciting first signs of flower buds. 

Here are the top tips for keeping your winter potted flowers looking great.

• When potting up flowers, use a premium potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix with Dynamic Lifter. It's specially formulated to have increased water holding capacity and wettability, which is important for growing healthy potted plants. 
• Feed your flowering plants every 1 - 2 weeks with Yates Thrive Roses & Flowers Liquid Plant Food. This liquid fertiliser has been specially developed to have the right blend of nutrients to promote healthy green foliage as well as lots of flowers. The additional benefit is that you can water and feed your plants at the same time.
• Protect plants, particularly seedlings, from damaging snails and slugs with Yates Snail & Slug Bait. 
• Monitor plants for common pests like aphids and caterpillars. Aphids are tiny sap feeding insects that can cause stems and leaves to yellow and distort, and caterpillars can chew through plants and flowers. It's easy to protect flowering plants from insects with Yates Pyrethrum Insect Pest Gun. It's based on an extract from the pyrethrum daisy and controls a wide range of insect pests, including aphids and caterpillars.