With Bring a glow to the patio Get a late-summer lift

NOW is a good time to bring together a few pots of colour to give your patio a lift to see out the summer.

Round up remaining sunflowers, dahlias and asters, and pad out pots with autumn- flowering heathers, ornamental cabbages and chrysanths.

Weather-tolerant garden mums with their cushion- shape habit and bright blooms will last in peak condition until severe frosts.

They come in traditional autumnal shades like rich yellow, orange and gold. But for a more up-to-theminute look, combine rusty tones with reds like spice, cranberry, burgundy and wine, and maybe a splash of bright pink.

To put the rest of your patio in the pink, colour-match remaining containers with a mix of lightly fragrant miniature Miracle cyclamen, gaultheria or pernettya with rose-coloured bead-like berries and bud heathers.

Give the pots a well- lit spot – making sure the compost never gets too wet – and the cyclamen especially may well stay in flower until Christmas.

As an alternative, pack between the bright blooms with the evergreen of sedges and perennials such as heuchera in variations of one hue – it’s not a season to be shy with colour.

Ornamental cabbages will pack a punch as the nights draw in, so perhaps use them to replace fading blooms. Plant at an angle facing out of the pot to stop water pooling between leaves.

Those with white patterned leaves are easily frost-marked, whereas the rose-coloured ones grow more intense as temp eratures fall, staying decorative until mid-winter.

For lasting colour, add Universal pansies. They come in amazing colours from white to rich gold, purple, red, rose, maroon, orange and violet – with many shades in-between. The Joker Series are popular with their darker, contrasting centre, giving them a “cheeky face”, and twotone colour blends and pastel shades.

Some also have petals with crinkled or ruffled edges, while others have giant flowers up to 10cm in diameter.

Deadheading or removing spent blossoms and frost-damaged flowers is a priority with pansies – if left they look like soggy paper tissue and will encourage mould to ravage the plants.

Popping containers on feet lets excess water drain – saving roots from drowning in severe weather.