I’ve always liked daisies in all shapes and forms and I love this Michaelmas daisy (formally Aster ‘Little Carlow’) because it really is a last blast of colour in the autumn – at Michaelmas, as the name implies.

Its flowers are great for cutting, it mixes well with grasses and other late flowerers, like Rudbeckia and Helianthus, and it’s a great food plant for butterflies and other insects.  ‘Little Carlow’ is a cordifolius hybrid with small clusters of flowers, pale lavender blue in colour. It forms strong growing clumps to 1.2m high and is mildew free in my garden. It needs a sunny position and is so vigorous that I divide it about every third year. A good value plant.