A grouping of pots on the author's terrace is filled with hardy plants that keep their looks all winter long. The mondo grass, carex and wintergreen were dug out of the garden to play a starring role during the winter months. In springtime, they'll go back into the ground, and the pots will be planted up with flowering annuals and perennials.

As in any season, start out with good-quality soil, since a small volume of dirt has to provide everything the plants need from now until the bulbs finish blooming in spring. It is especially important that winter rain-soaked soil drains freely. According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, we can expect a mild season with above-average rainfall. Plants run more risk of drowning than freezing in such a season, so a light, porous, commercial potting soil can help your container plantings cope. It doesn't hurt to mix in some bulb fertilizer — there's still time to stick in a few crocus and tulips beneath and around the roots of the plants. Nothing so stirs a gardener's soul as spotting the tips of bulbs emerging from the soil during the most forlorn days of February.

Sort through your favorite pots because, without the flashy focal-point plants of summer, containers themselves are the stars. And since no single plant lends huge impact, this is the time to add art or objects that can withstand the weather, combining them with a variety of pot styles and finishes to make your statement. Fearlessly mix fat, glossy globes with standard terra cotta and curvaceous urns. Interesting shapes and colors, like the pleated black pot at left in the photo, show up better now than in spring or summer when the garden is at its height.
 

Now In Bloom Beautyberry (Callicarpa bodnieri var. giraldii) is a stiff shrub that disappears into the summer border, coming into its own in autumn. Summer flowers are inconspicuous, and in autumn the leaves turn tints of russet and purple. The show starts after the leaves fall, revealing clusters of shiny berries in the most surprising shade of neon violet. The berries persevere through the winter if birds don't get them all. The cultivar 'Profusion' has bronze leaves in the spring, grows slowly to 10 feet, and produces lots of dark violet berries.

The trick to making a variety of pots look cohesive rather than motley is to repeat the same plants, colors or textures in each. In the photo, the mahogany-colored pansies appear in three pots, the little yellow sedum (Sedum makinoi 'Ogon') in several. The lacy wire vine (Muhlenbeckia complexa) in the tall green pot is hardy and evergreen, perfect for underplanting because it adds a textural layer without taking up much space.

Yet it is also important to give each pot a unique character. Here, a black mondo grass splays its blades over the glossy green leaves and red berries of Gaultheria procumbens in the terra-cotta pot. The twisty branches of a windspray cypress center another, and the silvery snake-like stems of Corokia cotoneaster could disappear against the gray winter skies if not shown off by the mat of yellow sedum beneath them. The orange sedge Carex testacea in the green pot brightens up the composition all winter long.

Even now, when we have to search out plants, the artistry lies in the edit. For example, winter-blooming pansies are available at every nursery. But try not to be seduced by all the different shades; their impact is greatly enhanced by using only a single color. Those pastel pansies are great under sunny skies, but the pale blue and yellow look washed out in winter. Go for richness and warmth of color for the darker days.

To make the most of your time and effort, place pots where you'll see them often, right outside the front door, on the deck near a window, or close to where you walk from car to house. It's amazing how often a window is as close as you'll get to your garden during the soggiest months of the year, so putting a pot where you can see it easily from the house will brighten your winter days.

Valerie Easton is manager at the Miller Horticultural Library. Her book, "Plant Life: Growing a Garden in the Pacific Northwest" (Sasquatch Books, 2002) is an updated selection of her magazine columns. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com. Mike Siegel is a Seattle Times staff photographer.