NEVER been a great fan of autumn, with its dour, damp, decay.

But there are jewels in the garden at this time of year that leap out from the predominant dullness in very different ways.

Striking nerines and cyclamen catch the eye in the garden and more subtle autumn hues are led by maple and my personal favourite, gingko biloba.

Nerines (pictured, right) are native to southern Africa and N. bowdenii, which blooms at this time of year, is hardy in this country and remarkably trouble-free.

So, now is a great time to see them in all their blousy beauty before you buy.

On the Island we are fortunate to have Springbank Nursery at Newchurch, which previously held the national collection of nerine sarniensis.

Nerines are most common in pink and a clump of those grace my old front garden where their backcloth is the ground cover of lamium maculatum Beacon Silver which is a low-growing, slowly spreading form of deadnettle.

As its name suggests, it has silver foliage and an added bonus are small purple flowers in late spring.

The two look magical together.

Nearby another favourite is cyclamen hederifolium (below, far left) which will hybridise and self-seed in all manner of nooks and crannies.

If you buy potted varieties now and plant them out when they have finished flowering you will end up with cyclamen of many hues.

On the subtler side is gingko biloba (below, left) and the finest example on the Island of this lovely tree can be found in the beer garden of Ryde’s Railway pub.

It has, very slowly, achieved giant proportion, but the good news for gardeners is that it doesn’t have to be that way.

G. Compacta is now on the market.

It is like its big brother with its fan-shaped leaves turning a lovely yellow in autumn but will only reach a height of 12ft — meaning it can be enjoyed by many more people.