A few years ago we planted an autumn border at Brockhole, stocked with plants that look their best in September and October. A whole border dedicated to late-flowering plants is not an option for those of us with smaller gardens but, with careful planting, we can still fill that awkward time between the end of the summer-flowering plants and the start of those with autumn colour.

To bridge the gap in my garden at home we have planted a pair of late flowering shrubs, Hydrangea paniculata and Clerodendrum bungei, which has fragrant, dark pink flowers above dark green foliage.

In the spring we planted out two varieties of annual Rudbeckia, both of which are flowering well, as is Coreopsis grandiflora Unwin's Gold' which we grew from seed sown in March. It's quite unusual for perennials to flower in their first year from seed, but these last have exceeded all expectations.

We have two groupings of the ice plant, Sedum spectabile, the bright pink S. s. Brilliant' and the white S. s. Iceberg' , both of which will flower throughout September and October.

As an experiment I bought in 12 different varieties of spray chrysanthemum from a specialist nursery. They arrived as rooted cuttings at the beginning of March, with instructions to plant them out in May. Not having grown chrysanthemums before I wasn't sure what to expect so I put them in an empty space in the vegetable plot, but they could just as easily have been slotted into gaps in the flower borders. The first plants began to flower at the beginning of September, in rich autumnal shades of orange and yellow; they are a great success.

Late-flowering plants tend to stand out in other people's gardens, among the seedheads and faded blooms of summer. I have noticed annuals like Nicotiana and Cosmos still at their best, perennial asters, Japanese anemones and penstemons looking good, with more labour-intensive plants such as dahlias and cannas looking absolutely stunning and surely well worth the effort needed to grow them.

It's not just flowers that give colour at this time of year, of course. There are plenty of colourful fruits about, including dessert, culinary and crab apples, pears and medlars.

Golden hops put on a wonderful fruiting display and as the last flowers begin to fade on the rugosa roses they are replaced by brilliant red hips.

The American pokeweed, Phytolacca americana, has the most extraordinary heads of shiny, dark maroon berries; though I would think twice about planting it in a garden where there are children or pets, as the berries are highly toxic if eaten.

Jobs for this week:

Remove suckers from bush roses, lilacs and rhododendrons. Cut them off below ground, at the point where they leave the roots if you can reach it.

Prune climbing roses, cutting out any dead or diseased wood together with the oldest growths, and tying in new growths.

Finish all hedge trimming by the end of this month if possible.