So make way for them as soon as possible, in bed, gravel, pot or windowbox, around shrubs, in amongst herbs or anywhere you can find spaces.

If you can't see any obvious spaces, create a few by removing dead or spent bedding, or salad plants, or by cutting back hardy perennials that have lost their lustre for this year.

The bulbs will only require a reasonably rich, free-draining soil or compost. If the soil seems depleted, add a handful of dried seedweed or bonemeal. If it seems thin, add some bulky matter, preferably homemade compost or leafmould.

When buying bulbs of any kind, select only the plumpest and firmest, as they will have more energy to put into flowering than shrivelled, scabbed, mouldy or partially rotted ones, though this shouldn't be a problem if you buy from a reputable dealer.

The lovely saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, is the first to flower, in mid-autumn, and will provide you with your very own fresh saffron threads as well, which is pretty cool in any language.

The flower is a beautiful, luminous lavender-blue with conspicuous gold filaments at its centre.

These are the real saffron, the golden threads used to colour and flavour food, particularly rice dishes. The area of England known as Saffron Walden was once used to grow them commercially on a vast scale.

The beautifully titled Amaryllis belladonna is probably worth growing for the pleasure of saying its name alone, though happily it is also pretty in its flowering pinkness. A South African bulb which reaches 2ft (60cms), it should not be confused with the laterblooming Hippeastrum.

A deep, rich soil and the backing of your sunniest wall will be necessary for flowering success. The strap-shaped leaves appear in mid-winter, after the flowers and should not be left exposed to frost. It is also ideally suited to cultivation in pots and can be dragged into a sheltered spot after flowering.

The ornamental onions, or Allium as they are better known now to anyone with even the slightest interest in gardening, are usually associated with summer months, but they also have their autumn-flowering family members. If you want a spreader, then look no further than Tuberosum, an easy plant for sun or shade with white flowers and pleasant seedheads that last all winter.

One of the real showstoppers of autumn has to be the Colchicum, a large group of very showy pink to purple, occasionally white, single or double flowers that appear as if by magic on naked stems, which has given rise to their English nicknames, 'Naked Boys' and 'Naked Ladies'.

Often confused with crocuses, they are reliable flowerers if given full sun for a part of each day.

If you look closely, you will see that flower buds for next year are already starting to form on camellias, rhododendrons and azaleas. It's most important that those growing in pots are not allowed to dry out completely, or they'll give few or no flowers next year.

Worse still, they could die over the winter from drought, unlikely as this sounds.

Besides liking an acid soil (plant them in an ericaceous compost: it will tell you on the bag), Camellias & Co also like an acid drink, that is, rainwater as opposed to tap water.

Make sure any water gets to the roots and doesn't just splash off the leaves.