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of electric blue, lime green and scarlet it's more likely to give the poor beast migraines.Anyway, there was this toad. We don't see them often, but they are definitely about and they usually turn up, like this one, when I'm doing a bit of autumn tidying

of the plant). They are not really the right choice for a small garden or a tidy gardener. Pachymorphs form a clump (although the clump will, obviously increase in time) which makes them perfect as big specimen plants in lawns or as part of a mixed border

while for the ladybirds to arrive to the scene, but they nearly always come eventually. It helps not to be too tidy in autumn - ladybirds and other insects hibernate among dead foliage and leaf litter, so if you provide such shelter for them over winter

, caterpillars and chrysalises don't end up on the compost heap. Now autumn is on its way, many of us will be thinking of tidying our gardens, composting spent perennials and making leaf mulch.Remember that caterpillars overwinter in leaf piles and plant debris

are declining so alarmingly, but the usual factors are likely to blame: in rural areas, there are fewer hedgerows to provide shelter, while use of pesticides removes a vital source of their food. In towns and cities, small, over-tidy and paved gardens reduce