Copper pots

In the center of one of Sissinghurt's courtyards is a great copper pot, planted out with bulbs in the spring, followed by a succession of annuals.

Planting tulips and bulbs directly into pots worked for me in England, but they failed abysmally here, the bulbs rotting down into a soggy mass during winter's freezes and thaws.  This year I filled plastic planting pots full of potting soil and layers of bulbs and planted them in nursery beds.  I'm hoping they will be ready to remove and plant out in the spring.  The holes the pots leave I'll fill with dahlias and other tender tubers I now have wrapped in shredded paper in the garage.  

My copper pot is currently filled with snow, brimming with little but ice.