In some gardens, vibrant and long-lasting summer displays depend on tender plants such as argyranthemums, pelargoniums (geraniums), fuchsia, helichrysum and osteospermums. Buying new plants each year is costly and can be risky: you never know what stresses plants are subjected to along the chain between grower and seller.
Keep your own stocks going by taking cuttings now and overwintering them in a greenhouse or a sunny porch. Prepare a tray of a gritty, free-draining mix of peat (or peat substitute) and sand: the mixture should be moist, but not soaking. Insert the cuttings into it and cover with polythene or a clear plastic lid. No further watering should be necessary. Some gentle heat at the bottom will give a greater success rate, but is not essential.
And in the garden, many hardy annuals can be sown directly into the soil to flower early next summer. Sow cottage garden favourites like cornflower, poached-egg plant (Limnanthes douglasii), pot marigold (Calendula), candytuft, larkspur and love-in-a-mist (Nigella).