If you’re hoping to catch the blazing colours of autumn, your best bet is to head to your nearest arboretum. I was lucky enough to grow up a stone’s throw from Westonbirt, the National Arboretum in Gloucestershire,

Catmint is the ideal low-maintenance perennial for any garden setting. Available in heights ranging from 8 inches to 3 feet tall, the silvery-green foliage has a minty-spicy scent that deer and rabbits tend to leave alone. Spikes of pink or purple flowers appear for weeks in mid to late summer.

A cool-season flower that can be set out in early spring, sweet alyssum fades in the summer heat, but its clusters of tiny white, pink, or purple blooms will likely cover your garden again in the fall when temperatures stabilize.

Fall flowers are a valuable source of nectar and pollen for butterflies and other beneficial insects at a time when food sources are scarce.