Hi hoping to get some flowers for some small pots tomorrow - wanting something colourful that will last through spring and summer, on a north facing wall. It’s two metal stands each with three metal pots. Many thanks
North facing wall is quite limiting for flowers. All I can think of is impatiens or fibrous-rooted bedding begonias (not the big showy tuberous ones) or bedding violas. Any of those would be OK with a single plant in say a 5 or 6 inch diameter pot, and maybe smaller, but you'd need to be vigilant about watering.
Edit: violas would be OK going outside now, but impatiens and begonias aren't hardy so you wouldn't be able to put them outside until the risk of frost is past. That would be late May here but might be earlier or later for you.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I doubt they'll be much that goes through spring and summer by itself - if you mean flowering. Primulas if you can ensure they don't dry out, are fine in pots. Your location will dictate how long they go on flowering. Native primulas flower on and off all year round here. Some bedding plants, as @JennyJ says, will be fine but it's too early for them.
You might need to have a selection of early bulbs for future, and swap them around as they go over, and include other small evergreens or things like cyclamen, and the violas already mentioned etc. Small leaved ivies are good in pots, and will provide all year round colour and also a foil for any colourful planting. Some ferns last a long time, although the properly evergreen ones would need a decent enough container to thrive. Many saxifrages are fine in a north aspect. Iberis [perennial candytuft] will grow in that aspect, but would need a big enough container to thrive.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Impatiens (buzzy Lizzie) will do what you want for the summer period ( Not for the remainder of Spring) as night time temperatures need to remain above 10 c for survival
There long flowering over a summer season. I've had them placed in pots on a north facing wall and they bloomed all summer.
Obviously if you can start them off in a sunny location and then move them to the north aspect they will get a better start to the season.
Primula as mentioned would do for the rest of the spring season.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
hoping to get some flowers for some small pots tomorrow - wanting something colourful that will last through spring and summer, on a north facing wall. It’s two metal stands each with three metal pots.
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Primulas if you can ensure they don't dry out, are fine in pots. Your location will dictate how long they go on flowering. Native primulas flower on and off all year round here.
Some bedding plants, as @JennyJ says, will be fine but it's too early for them.
You might need to have a selection of early bulbs for future, and swap them around as they go over, and include other small evergreens or things like cyclamen, and the violas already mentioned etc. Small leaved ivies are good in pots, and will provide all year round colour and also a foil for any colourful planting. Some ferns last a long time, although the properly evergreen ones would need a decent enough container to thrive.
Many saxifrages are fine in a north aspect. Iberis [perennial candytuft] will grow in that aspect, but would need a big enough container to thrive.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
There long flowering over a summer season. I've had them placed in pots on a north facing wall and they bloomed all summer.
Obviously if you can start them off in a sunny location and then move them to the north aspect they will get a better start to the season.
Primula as mentioned would do for the rest of the spring season.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
George Bernard Shaw'