There are many plants that can brighten up your garden with their colourful blooms in September. Here’s a few suggestions:

Clematis ‘My Angel’: This is a stunning climber that produces masses of small, star-shaped flowers that form on burgundy stems, and each is distinctly bicoloured, with a burgundy-flushed yellow interior and a burgundy-red outer. To top it off, each petal has a fine lemon edge. The flowers have a sweet fragrance and attract bees and butterflies. The foliage is also attractive, turning from green to purple as the season progresses. It’s easy to grow and reaches around 3m tall and 1.5m wide so it can easily cover a wall, fence, or trellis in a sunny or part sunny spot.

It is deciduous, so it will lose it’s leaves over winter but grow back the following springtime.

Scabious ‘Black Cat’: Commonly known as the pincushion flower. It has dark, rich velvet, crimson, mini-pincushions on long, wiry stems. It flowers over a long season and is loved by pollinators. It’s suitable for borders, containers, or as a cut flower. Prefers full sun.

Pansies: Pansies are cheerful and can brighten up any spot in your garden. They come in a wide range of colours and can flower throughout autumn and winter. They are ideal for pots, hanging baskets, window boxes, or edging paths. They can also be used as edible decorations for cakes and salads. Dead-head them regularly for continual flowering.

Autumn crocus – Colchicum autumnale: These plants produce showy pink or purple flowers in autumn, with long, narrow petals and a yellow centre. They are also known as naked ladies because they bloom without leaves. They can be planted in borders, rockeries, or under trees. Happy in any soil in sun or part shade.

Helenium autumnale: This tall, upright plant produces yellow or orange daisy-like flowers with a dark centre in late summer and early autumn. They are also called sneezeweed because they were once used to make snuff. They are drought-tolerant and make excellent cut flowers. Other colours are available, from single colour yellows and reds/orange to the bi-coloured ones here in the photo. They prefer full sun in any moist but well drained soil.

Aster/Michaelmas Daisy: The botanical name is Symphyotrichum, which is a bit of a mouthful! The daisy-like flowers are a useful addition to the borders in autumn. They are in pretty colours of mauve, blue, pinks and whites. I would recommend a visit to the Picton Nursery in Worcestershire who specialise in this flower and the gardens are beautiful. Find out visiting times here – https://www.autumnasters.co.uk/

Sunflower: Not all sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are yellow – some are orange/red, or even rusty brown. They make excellent cut flowers but be sure to leave a couple for the birds, which love to peck seeds from the dead flowerhead. Sunflower ‘Valentine’ are available to buy as a gift from my online shop, click here for more information https://borderinabox.com/product/ray-sunshine-card-seeds-coaster/

Here’s a mini planting plan for you. If you have an existing border that is already planted, you can grow these plants in pots and interchange them as and when other plants have stopped flowering. It’s not to scale, but it provides a guide on where to plant them, and also plant several of the same plant together in swathes – usually odd numbers 3’s or 5’s together, but this is dependant upon the space you have available.