Colours this late in the season are look-at-me bright: a last ditch flourish to remind you how fabulous a plant can look before you sink into the sepia tones of winter. Solidago is one of the flashiest of them all, a fireworks explosion of yellow that erupts from a hot-coloured exotic border like so many rockets.

Upright and sturdy, with strong stems that don’t need staking, solidago hail from North America, making them ideal for partnering with grasses and hot-coloured daisies like asters or echinacea. They range in height from a stately 1.2m down to just 30cm, with the dwarf varieties ideal for livening up autumn container combinations, too.