Leafy Little Venice gets even leafier when you take two turns off Warwick Avenue and enter Clifton Nurseries, horticulturists to the quality for well over 100 years. These fragrant few acres are a plantsman’s dream, all frondy pathways, mossy pots, lavender, vines, palms, a resident cat, and a treasury of well-kept foliage, trees, herbs, shrubs, flowers, bulbs and garden necessities/luxuries.

It’s not as rustic as our visit to Petersham Nurseries earlier this year, but just as delightful. And, this time, we’re here as gardeners – albeit ones without gardens. Sarah Glenny, outdoor plants supervisor at Clifton, is going to show us how to plant an autumn/winter flowering pot, layered with  bulbs to take us right through to spring.

Plant your own flowering pot for autumn/winter

You’ll need:

  • One 29cm diameter terracotta pot
  • A trowel, scoop or plastic pot
  • Watering can
  • Scissors
  • Multipurpose compost
  • Hydroleca
Plants and bulbs:

  • Crocus bulb ‘Ruby Giant’
  • Narcissus bulbs
  • Winter-hardy fern
  • Skimmia ‘Rubella’
  • Winter-hardy cyclamen
  • Viola
  • Heucherella ‘Gunsmoke’
  • 1

    Assemble your tools, bulbs and plants.

  • 2

    Place a bit of broken pot or china over the drainage hole in the bottom of your terracotta pot, to stop soil falling out of the bottom.

  • 3

    Start with a layer of Hydroleca: clay pebbles that are excellent for good hydration/drainage.

  • 4

    Cut open the compost bag – it makes it easier to work with.

  • 5

    Add about 10cm of compost, keeping it loose so you can scoop out holes for the bulbs and plants.

  • 6

    Place the crocus bulbs in near the side.

  • 7

    Add the narcissus in the middle – they’ll come up taller than the crocus.

  • 8

    Loosely cover the bulbs with a layer of soil.

  • 9

    Arrange your plants in height order.

  • 10

    Dig a space big enough for the first plant.

  • 11

    Tip the plant out of the pot and plunge the root ball into water for a few minutes to give it a good start. Also, pick off weeds, any rotten bits or yellowing foliage from the base.

  • 12

    Plant in a circle, starting with the tallest, ferns first, ideally opposite where you placed the crocus bulbs. Firm down the soil around it. It should be sitting a few centimetres lower than the rim of the pot, to allow room for watering.

  • 13

    Continue with the skimmia: an evergreen with pretty buds that produce creamy, pink-tinged flowers in spring.

  • 14

    Next plant the cyclamen, then the viola, which is winter-hardy, going to sleep when it’s frosty and coming back to life when the sun shines.

  • 15

    Finally, put in the heucherella, an evergreen plant with foliage that will look lovely winterlong. Water immediately.

Sarah’s green-fingered tips

  • Against an exterior wall is the best place to keep your pot, sheltered from real cold, and in dappled shade.
  • Cyclamen go on until about Christmas time, after which you could swap it for snowdrops, pansies or primrose.
  • Attend to your pot every few days, watering when needed. Cyclamen and viola need regular deadheading.
  • In mid-May, you can change over to summer plants: begonia, lobelia, geranium.
Clifton Nurseries, 5A, Clifton Villas, London, W9 2PH (020 7289 6851; www.clifton.co.uk)