When the flower buds of spring bulbs start to swell and take on colour it won’t be long before the whole display is in full swing and the drama of the flower border will unfold. Even if you don’t plant your spring flowering bulbs in the autumn you can still catch up by buying ready grown pots of bulbs at the garden centre. You don’t need many to make a great impact and you can plant them all around the garden to add instant colour to pots, beds and borders.

Pay a visit to the garden centre now and choose a few plants to transform a garden planter or window box. Planting a container is a quick and easy weekend project that will bring weeks of enjoyment. Choose containers that complement each other and plant up some of them with spring flowering bulbs for a stunning spring display but complement these with a collection of shrubs and evergreen plants that will add further colour interest and texture.

Add another dimension to your spring garden by choosing fragrant plants. Right now you will find pots of hyacinths in the garden centre whose rich, intense scent can perfume a room or transform a garden pot or planter. There’s little more inspiring on an early spring morning to catch the scent of a flowering plant as you pass by.

But it’s not just bulbs that are scented. Many early flowering shrubs use perfume to attract the few pollinating insects that are braving the cold weather. For the best effect spread your fragrant plants around, or choose ones that flower at different times. If you plant them together or their flowering overlaps their perfume will mingle and you will lose the effect. Instead carefully choose one or two scented shrubs and plant them near a garden seat or beside a garden path where you will catch a waft of their fragrance as you pass by. Good plants to choose include the spicy scent of witch-hazel (Hamamelis sp), Christmas box (Sarcococca confusa), Mahonia japonica or the sweet scent of winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima). Most of these plants start flowering any time from January and continue flowering through February and into March. There’s something quite brave about these harbingers of spring that lift the spirit and brighten the garden.

You don’t need to rely on flowers to create colour and interest in pots and containers. You can also chose evergreen plants that have dramatic foliage such as phormiums, grasses and cordylines. These plants make excellent specimen plants in planters, but they can also be successfully used to complement spring bulbs such as early daffodils and tulips. Later in the season when the bulbs have finished flowering you can replace them with vibrant summer bedding. Choose contrasting hot colours such as yellow, orange and red for striking results.