Your favourite late colour

Best plants for an autumn lift

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Autumn light is gentle, yet borders can still sing. Plant now while the soil is warm and moisture is returning, and you will enjoy instant impact with roots establishing before winter.

Containers and bedding Refresh pots with violas and pansies for cheerful faces through short days.

Hardy cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium) brings marbled leaves and nodding blooms now, carrying on into October. Add flowering kale for bold rosettes and heuchera for evergreen foliage, anchoring winter displays.

Choose peat-free compost, mix in slow-release feed, then water to settle. In spring, these containers become the perfect stage for bulbs pushing through.

Perennials performing now Asters (Symphyotrichum) deliver daisies in blues, purples and whites just when borders need a lift. Sedum (Hylotelephium) forms dusky pink plates, holding their shape into winter.

Hesperantha coccinea lights up cooler evenings with scarlet or shell-pink flowers, and

Japanese anemones keep floating blooms into October. Plant container-grown clumps now so the crowns knit in. Trim spent stems above a leaf joint and mulch lightly to neaten and hold warmth.