Easy Joys Of Autumn Bulbs

Reliable performers for late-year colour

- Ruth Hayes

IF you are thinking of ways to keep your garden interesting and full of colour right through into the autumn, look no further than late-flowering bulbs.

There are bulbs for every situation and soil. Autumn crocuses and Sternbergia, plus cheerful yellow winter aconites look stunning naturalised in lawns and under trees.

Borders can easily be brightened by ever-reliable and dazzling dahlias, jolly Hesperantha, tall nerines with their clusters of trumpets in shades of pink, as well as white, and hardy Cyclamen coum that take over flowering duties during the darkest days and glow out from shady nooks.

If you have left it too late to plant bulbs, scour garden centres, nurseries and browse online for ready-grown plants that will flower this year. Leave them to die back naturally, feeding and watering the withering leaves as you do so, and they should return even more strongly next autumn.