Instead of planting individual pots of bulbs, corms and tubers, try mixing them with winter flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants.
Winter flowering laurustinus makes an excellent center piece for a winter container or, if it is relatively small plant, for a hanging basket.
It is hardy, evergreen and produces a mass of pink tinged buds, which open to white flowers any time from late autumn through to spring.
White, mauve or purple winter flowering heathers can be planted around the sides so that when they come into bloom, just after midwinter, they will soften the edge of the basket and give extra color.
Choose large specimens with plenty of flower buds.
Trailing ivies can also be planted around the edge.
As they cascade over the sides, peg them into the moss to stop them spoiling in the winter wind.
As they touch the moss, they will take root and within a season you will have a well established ivy ball.
Another excellent hardy foliage plant is the every green marinates, with its long, architectural, grey trail, which produce bright yellow flowers in early spring.
For the highlight of a winter container or hanging basket, plant some specimen bulbs, corms or tubers.
You might dig up a clump of snowdrops or snowflakes from your own garden, never from the wild, or just a few winter aconites.
However, if you want to start with new bulbs, try some dwarf irises.
Iris, with its golden yellow flowers, shows up brilliantly, but there are lots of irises to choose from, including all reticulate irises, such as harmony and Joyce, both of which have sky blue flowers with yellow on the falls, and Pauline, which is a marvelous dusky violet with flecks of white on the falls.