Tips for October

Continue planting bulbs for spring-flowering displays. Give priority to daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, fritillarias, erythroniums, irises and small bulbs in rock gardens. Tulips can be kept back for planting later in October and even into early November.

Autumn is an ideal time to plant new shrubs and perennials. Use our guide to buying plants to make sure you know what to look out for and what to avoid.

Prune back old flowering stems on rambler roses and tie in any new shoots to the support.

The last orange-peel blooms of Clematis orientalis open their fluffy seed-heads as the autumn sun catches their silky, silvery strands. Enjoy the display until late February, when all stems can be untangled and pruned hard back to about 60cm (2ft) above soil level.

Brighten up an expanse of lawn, especially around trees or in less formal areas, by planting a crocus carpet. The best way to make it look natural is to pick up large handfuls of crocus corms and freely scatter them around. Use a bulb planter to take out cores of soil where they fall, popping a corm into each hole before replacing the turf and watering in. After flowering in spring, allow their grassy foliage to develop and refrain from mowing off until the end of May or early June.

Lift and store dahlia tubers as soon as their foliage has been blackened by the first frost. Cut the hollow stems back down to about 10cm (4in) above the tuber. The tuber should then be stood upside down to allow any water to drain out.