Peter Dowdall: Here's what to do in your garden in September

Late summer-flowering perennials, like this Verbena bonariensis, are still giving of their best and will root easily from cutting taken now. File picture

September has a way of catching us off guard in the garden. The calendar says autumn is here, yet the borders are still colourful, the grass is green, and there’s warmth left in the sun. It’s a lovely time to simply enjoy what’s still in flower, but it’s also a time of opportunity.

We gardeners are nothing if not optimistic, and this is the month to plant for the future, to look to next spring and early summer while now, everything else is winding down. If you take advantage of it now and work a season or two ahead, your garden will repay you many times over.