Five stunning plants gardeners should sow in pots for gorgeous winter blooms

Winter brings with it the chance to display lots of beautiful and vibrant flowering plants perfectly made for keeping in pots.

The advantage of this, as opposed to plants in your garden's flowerbed, is that you can move them around however you feel like it. For example, a great place is just outside the front door to make your home more inviting for guests on an otherwise cold and miserable day.

A key point to remember though is to ensure that any pot you use is suitable for winter. As lovely as they look during the warmer months, clay and terracotta pots are prone to the frost and can end up cracking.

Winter heather grows wild in the Alps (Image:Getty Images/iStockphoto)

You can avoid wasting needless money to replace them by using frost-proof pots and containers. Gardeners' World advises using ones such as plastic, fibreglass, wooden or treated terracotta.

Also, be wary of any that are labelled 'frost resistant' are still liable to crack in cold weather. Always go for 'frost proof' pots instead. Another tip includes raising pots on on blocks or pot 'feet' as this will let any water drain away quickly and reduce the possibility of frost damage.

With this in mind, below are five gorgeous plants recommended by Gardeners' World that are well worth putting in pots this winter.

Snowdrops

Snowdrops are perfect for growing in winter pot displays and you can team with black lilyturf and hellebores for a modern look. They are also the first bulbs of the year to flower, signifying the end of winter. Bees such as honeybees may also come and visit the flowers.

Flowers: January to March.
Height x spread: 15cm x 10cm.

Pansies are a brilliant way to add colour to your garden pots (Image:Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Winter flowering pansies

Winter-flowering pansies with yellow, maroon, white or purple 'faces' will keep flowering except in the very worst weather but they will recover and then continue until June. They have large, striking flowers and heart-shaped leaves. The colourful, often bi-coloured flowers have a darker, face-like markings in the centre and sight to behold.

Flowers: November to March.
Height x spread: 20cm x 30cm.

Flowering snowdrops mark the end of winter (Image:Getty Images)

Cyclamen

Hardy cyclamenare are neat, free-flowering plant that are great for growing at the base of trees and shrubs or naturalising in grass. But they also work well in winter pot displays and can be planted into the garden once they have flowered.

Flowers: January to April.
Height x spread: 8cm x 10cm.

Winter heather

With wiry stems covered in evergreen needles, which are usually deep green but occasionally in other shades, winter heathers are usually derived from erica carnea. This grows wild in the Alps and other cool mountainous regions. Winter heathers are also particularly useful for bringing colour to winter containers.

Flowers: February to March.
Height x spread: 25cm x 30cm.

Hellebore

The Christmas rose is the first of the hellebores to flower, most commonly in January but sometimes it can come in time for Christmas. It has large, round, white flat-faced flowers that are attract bees, above low-growing mounds of leathery, deep green foliage. It’s ideal for growing at the front of a partially shaded border but they also work just as well in pots.

Flowers: January to March.
Height x spread: 45cm x 45cm.