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Much of my gardening time in September is spent planning for spring colour. I'm not wishing the year away - I love autumn in all its fading glory - but now is the time to buy spring-flowering bulbs for planting over the next couple of months

, 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

flash of scarlet to liven up a dank afternoon.PS The flowers in the photograph above adorn a vast multi-stemmed specimen that I've just (with the aid of much heavy machinery and many sturdy fellows) planted in a client's garden.

sun. It reaches 1.5m high.Eryngium giganteumHappy in woodland conditions, the yellow- or orange-flowered Welsh poppies are annuals that don't mind shade, making them perfect to weave under trees and taller shrubs.Meconopsis cambricaA cottage garden

lessoniana (formerly Stipa arundinacea). From autumn through to spring, its foliage takes on spectacular red, orange and yellow tints, making it an essential grass for mixed borders.Amenanthele lessonianaPlants don't get much more architectural than

is to blame, with wild areas of farmland sacrificed for bigger yields. Bumblebees now have fewer nesting opportunities and flowers to feed from.Grow a range of flowering plants all year - especially from March to November when bees are most active - to provide

stripes with age. It rarely flowers, but may produce beautiful pink, puffball blooms. Albizia julibrissin grows to a height of 12m.Albizia julibrissinThe paper-bark maple is a slow-growing small tree with dark green leaves that turn a rich, crimson colour

flower first in June and then produce orange hips. You then have the choice to leave the hips on the bush and enjoy them in the winter, or to deadhead the whole thing and hang on for a few weeks until it flowers again.Alternatively, you can do what I try

We’ve finished clearing out all the summer containers and started replanting them with winter bedding. I really love potting up plants, especially in late-autumn and winter when any dash of colour is welcome in the garden.A trip to our local market

cottage, where a mix of flowers and foliage veer towards the sultry end of the spectrum - orange, red, warm yellow and lots of bronze foliage to help the whole picture seethe and simmer. The huge, blatant flowers of the poppy always get the season off to a