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Downie': one of the most reliable and popular small trees available. Lots and lots of pink buds open into a cloud of white flowers in May. Rosy-cheeked little apples in autumn. Self-fertile.Next up is Malus 'Red Sentinel': the reddest of red apples

) have started flowering. (They are annuals and not to be confused with the beefier oriental poppies - like this striking red Papaver orientale 'Beauty of Livermere'.)These are one of my most favourite flowers: so delicate, so unbelievably beautiful

. It has truly spectacular flowers with big heads about six inches across. It contrasts rather well with a short kniphofia called 'Nancy's Red'.Dahlia 'Honka': I found this in the plant centre at Coton Manor Gardens this summer. It is quite short (about 40

. However, I include it because it makes a good, narrow growing, multi-stemmed tree with stunning white, starry flowers in springtime followed by edible fruit and dark red leaves. Can stand a bit of wet.Number three: Sorbus hupehensis. A Chinese Rowan

. capillipes and A. grosseri.Cornus florida: a dogwood, but a long way from the red- and green-stemmed varieties we plant for a splash of winter colour. This one is a stunning plant that has green flowers surrounded by white bracts. These look like petals

-spring, covered in white flowers which, come the autumn, turn into deep red berries, or haws. They also make spectacular trees that reach about 5m in 10 years - although if left alone they can reach 18m. They're fantastically gnarly and twisted and every wild

- Parrotia persica (Persian ironwood). Its flowers are always a surprise; tiny, deep red threads that seem to slowly push out their buds like hermit crabs squeezing from their shells. Parrotia is part of the witchazel family and makes a very spectacular small

loosens his plait.Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Rosea' - these persicarias also come in red and white.If you need more ideas then there is a great book called Late Summer Flowers by Marina Christopher (her nursery, Phoenix Perennial Plants is near Alton

After the recent soft mists and bright days I'm going to formally declare that autumn is with us. Not picture book autumn, with flaring red leaves and dustings of frost, but a sort of pubescent autumn. This is a lovely time of year - everything

-in-law's garden, where it overhangs her pond — it was love at first sight. Who could resist the delightful, slightly curled leaves? Especially when, come the autumn, they transform into an extraordinarily flamboyant conflagration of red and orange. Parrotias