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, this spreading plant features clumps of strappy leaves alongside sprays of trumpet flowers in shades of red, yellow and orange.My top plants for extending colourCrocosmiaThis plant is ideal for the no-fuss gardener. The large, long-lasting flowers in pinks

satisfying gardening experiences, and offer versatility, flexibility and quick results. Whenever I move house and inherit a new garden, one of my first tasks is to plant up a selection of pots to give some instant colour. When choosing your pot, as a rule it

: it is about 3m high and has gloriously scented tubular white flowers in Autumn, lush Autumn colour and bright red berries. Or Gentiana farreri, a trailing evergreen delight with flowers like sky blue fanfares? These are just two of the plants that Reginald

20,000 — so I try to visit as many of them as possible at this time of year. This is partly to see the fruits of all that labour, but also to make notes ready for the next planting season in autumn. Generally, as my family will happily tell you, I am

friend who has a plot in the heart of the city centre.Like lots of allotmenteers, she lives in a flat with no garden, so her plot is always a riot of colour, with spring plantings of tulips, daffodils and wallflowers, followed by cottage garden

tree called 'Fondante d'Automne' which has lovely flowers, fantastic autumn colour and not very good fruit. Still two out of three is OK, I suppose.These are the catkins and buds of Betula jaquemontii and, finally, lime buds. Lime leaves (Tilia x

'Helichrysum petiolare x2Parrot's beak, Lotus berthelotii x2Large, deep pot Multi-purpose compost, crocksCover the bottom of the container with crocks, then half-fill it with compost. Carefully ease the plants out of their pots.Make the blue potato bush the centrepiece

. I was struck by its bright iridescent green body and red head against the drab colours of the autumn sward. Like many non-ornithologists before me I was confused by the considerable lack of wood for such a bird to peck, way up on the chalk hillsides

that it is Parthenocissus tricuspidata, otherwise known as Boston Ivy. The leaves are a very distinctive three-lobed shape and are about 20cm long: we sometimes use them to cover plates (like brilliantly coloured doilies, but classier). Cheese in particular looks wonderful

companies is that most of the varieties come as mixtures. That means a packet contains a kaleidoscope of colours, and you can't tell what colour a plant will be until it actually flowers - fine if you want a flower bed reminiscent of Joseph's Amazing