Dessert and culinary apples Top tip Black-eyed Susan

Leave some fading flowers to form seeds, then collect the largest when they part from their stems easily. Dry and save to plant out next year. This Coronet miniature apple tree is bred to grow to around 5ft (1.5m) tall, ideal for growing in containers of at least 25 litres (look for them in garden centres). If you only have space for one tree, this is ideal as it has two different varieties grafted onto one stem – the early dessert and culinary Malus domestica ‘James Grieve’ with mid-autumn’s M. domestica ‘Elstar’, a dessert variety. They’re self-seeding, and ours is planted in an old dustbin amid pots of herbs, tomatoes and French marigolds. Thunbergia alata ‘Suzie Orange with Eye’ is a vigorous, annual, half-hardy climber that thrives in pots, producing an ongoing stream of cheerful flowers which wither without fuss. Plants reach over 3ft (1m) in height, supported by a can wigwam, and are ideal for a sunny, sheltered spot. Sunflowers, fuchsias, nicotiana, gazanias and herbs make a hot-coloured display.