Pink Cyclamen, White Pansy & Silver Hedera – Autumn Pastel Container Collection (Milk Churn)

This ready planted milk churn brings together pink cyclamen, white pansies and trailing silver-leaved ivy for a full season of autumn and winter colour.

The florist's cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) give the main flush of pink flowers over neat, marbled foliage, the white pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) flower on and off right through the colder months, and the silver-leaved ivy (Hedera helix) trails over the edge of the churn and keeps its leaves all year.

It arrives already planted in the milk churn shown, ready to stand on a patio, doorstep or porch. Give it a bright spot out of hot sun and away from cold, drying wind, and keep the compost just moist rather than wet.

Little upkeep is needed beyond deadheading the pansies and cyclamen to keep flowers coming, and moving the display somewhere more sheltered if a hard frost is forecast, as the cyclamen will not survive a prolonged freeze. Cyclamen tubers are not to be eaten, and ivy is harmful if eaten, with a sap that can irritate the skin.

Cultural Information

• Common Name: Autumn Pastel Container Collection
• Growth Habit: Mixed planting of upright flowering cyclamen and pansies with trailing ivy
• Perfect For: Patios, doorsteps and porches
• Flowering Time: Autumn into spring
• Flower Colour: Pink and white
• Planting Position: Partial shade, in a sheltered spot out of cold wind
• Hardiness: Not hardy as a whole; the cyclamen is tender to hard frost, so the display gives one season of colour rather than returning each year
• Maintenance: Low; deadhead spent flowers and bring under cover in a hard frost
• Seasonal Interest: Autumn, winter and early spring