The weather this month has been extremely wet, with so much rain that it has been impossible to do much gardening, so I've contented myself with looking at seed and bulb catalogues instead! I bought some Erythronium bulbs, and have planted these on level four of the garden (having dodged the showers and heavy rain), where it is quite shady. They will look lovely in the spring! I'm going to order some lovely pale blue Muscari 'Valerie Finnis', and some white ones too. A lot of people don't like Muscari because they spread so much, but I love them!

October is the month when the clocks go back one hour. This means it gets light earlier in the morning, but dark earlier in the evening. Less time for gardening! It's quite depressing, and I can't wait till March when the clocks go forward again, and Spring will be here! Anyway, enough of that - let's see what's been happening this month!

The summer this year was so slow to get going that many plants which should have been in flower by July are only now beginning to flower. This has affected my Cannas, which are just beginning to flower. My favourite one is 'Durban', because it has such beautiful leaves, as well as large, bright orange flowers. The leaves are deep maroon, with beautiful bright orange stripes. The picture shows a detail of one of the leaves of 'Durban'. I love Cannas anyway, because their architectural form and stunning flower colours give such a tropical look to the garden. I just hope a few more manage to flower before the first frost kills off the top growth.

One of the most colourful plants at this time of year is Physalis franchettii (syn. P. alkekengi). The common name for this plant is Chinese Lantern, and you can see why when you look at the seed heads of this plant, with their bright orange colouring and papery texture. These seed heads dry very well for use in dried flower arrangements. To do this, cut the stems and strip off the leaves. Stand the stem ends in a vase with about 1" of water, and they will dry in situ. The very top of the stem with immature lanterns may not dry successfully, so just cut this off if it shrivels.

Another very colourful plant in flower in the garden this month is Salvia confertiflora. It is a half-hardy shrubby plant, which grows to about 1.5 metres tall, and has lovely bright red velvety flower spikes. I grow mine in a pot, so that I can take it under cover for the winter. I've taken some cuttings as well, just in case! It's really easy from cuttings. I take a non-flowering piece with about three pairs of leaves, strip off the bottom pair of leaves, and insert the cuttings in a pot of gritty compost. I then put the cuttings in a propagator (no heat), and they root in about a week. I've also just stuck pieces in the pot which the big plant is growing in out on the patio, and they have rooted without even wilting! (Mind you, we've had so much rain lately, they wouldn't have had the chance to dry out.)

A plant which I only discovered last year is Saxifraga fortuneii 'Wada's Form'. When I first saw it, I couldn't believe it was hardy, it had such fleshy leaves, of a lovely bronze colour. I was even more amazed when it came into flower in early October with its lovely starry white flowers, on long stems. I still didn't think it would survive the winter, but it did, and here it is flowering again. It's lovely to have such a showy plant in flower at this time of the year, so it's definitely on my list of best plants for late flowering. The picture shows it nestling amongst Sedum 'Autumn Joy'.

One of the compensations of autumn is the fabulous colours which some plants display. Below are some pictures of a few of the plants in the garden which are showing beautiful colours now.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia.

Acer palmatum 'Senkaki'.

Butterflies seen this month - Comma and Cabbage White.

It's official!! It's been the wettest autumn since records began in 1766, and don't we know it! The weather this month has been dreadful, with rain, usually heavy and prolonged, every day until the 12th, which was the first day we had without any rain at all. Many parts of the UK have been flooded, but fortunately, my garden has not been affected, although it is extremely wet underfoot. It's been almost impossible to do any serious gardening except to potter in the greenhouse. The first frost of the winter occurred during the night of the 13th/14th, and it was out with the scraper for the car windows in the morning! None of the plants seemed to have been affected though on that occasion (phew - still a few tender plants out on the patio!) Unusually mild weather followed towards the end of the month, but no let-up in the rain!

With few plants in flower at this time of year, plants with berries or good foliage really come into their own. One of the most stunning plants for berries is Callicarpa bodinieri giraldii 'Profusion', with its wonderful display of beautiful purple berries. It also has good autumn coloured foliage. In the picture it is set against Fatsia japonica, whose large plain green leaves set off the colour of the berries.

I'm very fond of Heucheras both for their foliage and their flowers. The picture on the left shows Heuchera 'Stormy Seas'. I went on a shopping trip to three garden centres on the 12th (the first lovely sunny day of the month!), and bought six new Heucheras to add to my collection. These were 'Oakington Jewel'. 'Strawberry Swirl', 'Plum Pudding', 'Pewter Veil', 'Chocolate Ruffles' and 'Winter Red'. This brings the total number of Heucheras in my collection to 14! (See PLANT LIST). Evergreen plants like these form the backbone of the winter garden, and are extremely useful for flower arranging too!

A lovely little plant in flower now is Aster laterflorus 'Prince'. I only bought this plant in October, and I wasn't sure if it would be any good or not! Asters tend to suffer with mildew, but this one hasn't a trace of it. It's smothered with these dainty little flowers whose number outweighs their smallness in size, and the foliage is a lovely dark browny-red colour. It grows to about 30cm in height, so is suited to the front of the border. Definitely one I'd recommend for late flowers, although I'm not sure if it will flower this late in subsequent years. Only time will tell.

It's been officially announced that 2000 has been the wettest year since 177something. Well, that's no surprise. The weather this month was very mild for the first part, but there was no let-up in the rain. Still - it could be worse, the rain could be falling as snow, and we'd be snowed in! A sharp frost on the nights of the 15th, 16th and 17th heralded a period of bright but cold weather mid-month though, with NO RAIN for the first time since the end of October. From the 26th, we had very sharp frosts, and these damaged a few of the Fuchsias still in flower, and blackened the Canna leaves. Time to cut them back and bring them into the greenhouse now. On the 28th we woke to around 5cm of snow! I can't remember the last time the snow was so deep - it must be around 3 or 4 years ago. I like snow on Christmas cards - but I hate the real thing! Frosts of -15°C were reported at nearby Birmingham, but I don't think it was as bad here though, around -10°C. The temperature stayed well below zero all day and night from the 28th until the 31st, when the thaw finally set in. It's a good job we British have our weather, though - it always gives us something to talk about!

My dear flower arranging students always buy me a Christmas present at the end of term, and this year I was thrilled to receive premier membership of the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society). I had been on the point of sending off for membership myself earlier in the month, and it was lucky for me that I didn't. Now I have no excuse for not visiting lots of gardens next year! (Not that I need any excuse, of course!) I count myself extremely lucky to have such a wonderful group of people in my class, and they are all very talented....

I've had a new digital camera for my birthday, so you should see a big improvement in the quality of the pictures on my website from now on!!

Some plants just don't know when to give up! This Zantedeschia (Arum Lily) flowered earlier in the year, but has thrown up this lone flower to brighten the garden, and very welcome it is too! They are lovely flowers, and look beautiful in flower arrangements, especially at Easter.

For sheer good value, Coronilla valentina subspp. glauca has to take the prize. In my garden, it begins to flower in December, and doesn't stop until July. Even after that, there is often the odd flower to be seen. It is a small shrub with glaucous blue leaves, and sweetly smelling clusters of yellow pea-like flowers. It isn't bone hardy, but has withstood -7°C in its pot on the patio.

When flowers are scarce in the garden, ornamental grasses come into their own. One of the showiest species is Miscanthus, and these are still putting on a good show with their lovely seed heads. The pictures show Miscanthus sinensis 'Yaku-shima' on the left, and Miscanthus sinensis 'Graziella' on the right. I'm very fond of ornamental grasses, and grow lots of them as their leaves are often very colourful as well as having interesting seed heads.

One of the most useful plants for flower arranging is xFatshedera lizei. The x before the name denotes that it is a bi-generic cross, i.e. a cross between the genus Fatsia (False Castor Oil Plant) and the genus Hedera (Ivy). The plant has characteristics from both parents, with glossy evergreen leaves shaped like an Ivy, but larger. It is a climber, but does not self-cling, so it has to be tied to its support. At this time of the year, all the Fatsias and Fatshederas in the garden are in flower, with their flowers like a large Ivy flower, which attract late insects for the nectar. The picture shows the variety 'Anna Mikkels', whose leaves are a lovely mix of greens and yellows.

I was really surprised to find that my large Hamamelis mollis shrub was in full flower in the middle of December! Normally, it doesn't flower until early to mid-January, but this has been a very strange year! Many plants which don't normally flower until spring are showing signs of flower buds now. I'm wondering what's going to be left to flower when spring does finally arrive - summer flowers perhaps?! Hamamelis is a lovely shrub with interesting little wispy flowers, but they have such a strong scent that one small branch cut and brought into the house will fill a whole room with lovely fragrance. Definitely one of my favourite shrubs for winter and early spring colour in the garden.