Top ten plants for November

If you love bubble-gum pink, then this South African bulb could easily capture your heart when its bright pink lily like flowers appear on slender stems ahead of its strap like leaves in spring.  This is one for a warm, sunny border or ideally the base of a warm wall and, although tender, is otherwise undemanding.

Most people are familiar with the camellias that burst into flower in spring but what isn’t so well known is that there are a group of these lovely evergreen shrubs that flower in the autumn. These are known as Sasanquas and many of them have lightly fragrant flowers.

Unusually, you won’t smell the fragrance when sniffing the flower up close, instead you should smell it in the air when walking around the garden. This variety produces gorgeous bright red blooms.

Mahonias are well known for their sweet smelling soft yellow flowers. This evergreen variety has slightly prickly leaves that turn purple in winter, but before then, black berries adorn the plant in clusters. Growing to 1 metre tall, these spreading shrubs grow well in shade.

This lovely short evergreen variety is unusual in that it produces both delightful red coloured fruit and small pitcher shape flowers at the same time throughout autumn.  Although the fruits look like strawberries, trust me, they certainly don’t taste like them and are best left for the birds!

This is the ultimate, low maintenance elegant plant.  With its reddish-brown evergreen leaves it makes a great permanent addition to any planting scheme especially as it grows happily in sun or part shade and requires little or no maintenance.

If you have a patch of soil that’s permanently damp but not waterlogged this is a beautiful plant to grow for late autumn interest.  Place it at the front of your border where its long, graceful flower stems and large crimson colour flowers will surely be a source of great delight.

Next is a great pick if you want an easy to grow medium size tree that’s good for wildlife. This has pink flushed buds opening into bright white spring blossom and soft yellow fruit that stay on the tree well into December.

A great evergreen grass for this time of the year as its arching, cascading green leaves turn shades of orange and red as the weather cools adding beautiful colour to the flower borders.  It bulks up, particularly width wise, so best to give it plenty of space.

With dark bronze, green leaves with a purple tinge, this evergreen give year round colour. I’ve chosen it for its ability to brighten the border at this time of year as well as its striking lime green flowers on red-purple stems in spring.

It’s a great ground cover plant especially for shady difficult sites where it grows well. Although, it’s best to wear gloves when planting or pruning as the sap can cause skin irritation.

Lastly, this evergreen perennial has leaves that change colour throughout the year becoming richer red when the temperatures drop. This one looks great planted alongside pathways or even in seasonal containers.

Once established they will clump up nicely and autumn is a good time of the year to divide if you want to increase your stock of plants of this cheerful variety.