spring flowers

We've just had block paving done, to our north facing garden. the flowerbed was also emptied of all large shrubs.

Now we have a bare 600mm wide strip along edges, ready for a few summer bedding plants, but that's 5 months away.

Any ideas for putting something in now, for a bit of spring colour ??

Would winter pansies be OK, or should they have been put in place during autumn ?

Of course, it'll depend on what the garden centre has, when we go this weekend .... but thought it better to have a idea, rather than going there and looking dumb

I'm in the NE, near Newcastle upon Tyne, if that helps

wb - just about any of the bedding plants that are now available at your local nursery, or even B&Q, should be OK to put in. Remember to keep 'dead-heading' them to prolong flowering. Also consider some of the old favourites that are sold in pots and are just about ready to sprout from bulbs (dafs, bluebells, snowdrops, etc) as these will give you a display now or very soon and return for many years to come.

Bulbs are the easiest way to get early colour in spring, but I'm not sure about planting them now.

I'd buy a 50-100 bulbs or more.
You can buy bulbs in spring from the garden centre that are aready sprouting, but this will be a lot higher cost per bulb than buying a big bag of value bulbs from Tesco or ASDA or somewhere.