Gina Parkinson looks through a seed catalogue to plan next year's projects in her garden.

The sunny autumn we experienced earlier this month seems to have come to an end and frost is forecast for some of us this weekend. It is time to make the most of the few remaining flowers, take note of plants in need of attention and, when it is too cold or wet to be outside, peruse the new seed catalogues.

Thompson and Morgan's 2003 Seed Catalogue has several pages of new flowers as well as the usual large collection of old favourites and a good range of herbs and vegetables.

The company's 2003 Flower Of The Year is Antirrhinum Tequila Sunrise (150 seeds/£1.99), a bronze foliaged snapdragon with flowers in shades of yellow, orange, red and pink.

Tequila Sunrise grows up to 60cm high and is a summer flowering half hardy annual. Helianthus annus The Bees Knees (25 seeds/£1.99) is an F1 hybrid hardy annual with mixed flowers in colours from very pale yellow through to dark maroon that will grow to between 120 - 150cm tall. Despite the name these sunflowers will not attract bees as they are pollen free, but it does make them useful as a cut flower.

Viola x wittrockiana Total Eclipse (20seeds/£2.49) has an interesting colour combination of orange, yellow and black and would look good grown as a single variety in a pot.

Growing about 20cm tall, Total Eclipse is an F1 hybrid hardy perennial which, according to the company, can be a little tricky to germinate, but is easy to look after once this has been achieved.

New and exclusive vegetables in the T&M 2003 catalogue include Carrot Infinity F1 Hybrid (500 seeds/£1.69) a late summer/autumn variety with long, slender sweet-tasting roots good for salads and dips or to put in stews and casseroles. Cauliflower White Excel F1 Hybrid (45 seeds/ £1.89) is a summer maturing variety bred to give large heads on compact plants with very white curds. The maincrop pea Greensage (300 seeds/£1.49) has been bred from a cross between Greenshaft and a semi-leafless variety to give long pods carrying up to 11 sweet-tasting peas.

For a copy of the Thompson and Morgan 2003 Seed Catalogue write to Thompson and Morgan, Poplar Lane, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP8 3BU or telephone 01473 695225.

Plant of the month:

ERYSIMUM BOWLES MAUVE or perennial wallflower is a hard-working shrub that, given a sunny, sheltered site, will flower continually from spring to autumn and then on and off through the winter. It is evergreen with thin, grey green leaves topped with long stems covered in flowers. Although not strictly necessary, the stems can be removed every now and again to keep the plant looking neat and to encourage an even better display of blooms. E. Bowles Mauve grows best in full sun and in well-drained soil. The one drawback is that it is short lived and will soon become woody and overlarge. Cuttings are easy to take and can be used to replace the old plant.

Updated: 09:11 Saturday, October 19, 2002