Swags of holly and ivy, wreaths laden with fruits and bows, Poinsettias, indoor Cyclamen, pine cones - we have a vast store of traditional materials to draw from as Christmas approaches, and decorating the house in preparation for the Festive Season helps to awaken our Christmas spirit and cheer us up on dull, wintry days.

Spare a thought, then, for the view from the patio doors as guests gather for sherry and nibbles on Christmas morning. Would the area immediately outside your house benefit from a Christmas makeover too?

The simplest ideas are often the best, and we'd like to share a successful way to introduce bold splashes of gold, red and green - the colours we all associate with this time of year - by adding a group of coloured planters to the patio and filling them with seasonal, evergreen plants.

We love to use glazed ceramic planters, and you could look for these in red, green and gold, or opt for our moneysaving suggestion, and buy three inexpensive plain terracotta pots in different sizes and shapes.

Simply paint these with two coats of emulsion paint (ask your local paint shop to mix small tins for you in the colours you like best) and then finish off with a couple of layers of clear varnish for protection.

Painting and varnishing the inside and outside helps to prevent the pot from absorbing moisture, allowing the paint to last for three or four years.

Choose your favourites from Skimmia rubella, dwarf conifers, Leucothoe "Scarletta", Photinia "Red Robin", Helleborus niger, Gaultheria procumbens, some trailing ivy, a few primulas or early-flowering miniature bulbs.Fill the planters with crocks (broken bits of pot), or large stones, or lumps of polystyrene, before adding a multipurpose compost and planting up.

Pick a spot in full view of the window you look out of most often, and group the containers together for maximum impact, or place on the doorstep, next to the front door, to greet visitors as they arrive.

If you prefer, consider a gold and silver theme, and be inventive with the containers you use; it's possible to buy good quality stainless steel or fibre glass planters, but it is equally satisfying to recycle tins, metal watering cans, buckets or dustbins, and brass coal scuttles!

These items would look fantastic planted with silver and gold plants, such as Eleagnus, Griselinia littoralis variegata, Carex buchananii, Festuca glauca, Hebe "Red Edge" or Euphorbia myrsinites.