I have a Phygelius (recta I think) that's still producing enough flowers at the bottom of the garden for me to see the colour from the house, despite the fact that I left the first flush of flowers to produce seed. Nice long pinkish-red tubular bells with yellow lining.

Perennials with plenty of colour doing well at the moment in my garden, - Rudbeckia Goldsturm, Aster Frikaarti "Monch", Japanese Anemones, also Dahlias looking great (I leave the tubers in the ground over winter) and Gaura still going strong. For shrubs, hardy fucshias are looking good, one of my favourites is "Versicolour" - variegated leaves with very small reddish purple flowers. Ceratostigma is great for late summer colour, lovely small blue flowers and the foliage turns red later on. There is a perennial version which can spread a bit too much, better still is the shrub "Ceratostigma Willmottianum" 2/3' high. Another good late flowering blue shrub is Caryopteris - I have Worcester Gold (golden foliage) Of course, there are always the roses, gearing up for the autumn flush .......

My list is similar to pjc04s. I can add geranium Rozanne, achillea Walther Funcke, kniphofia 'Toffee Nosed', sedum spectabile, aster novae angliae, gaillardias, cyclamen hederifolium and most of my half hardy annuals like cosmos and tagetes are still in full bloom.

Also the Perennial Lobelias - red Lobelia cardinalis, blue and white Lobelia siphilitica, hybrids in pinks and purples - at their best now.

Thanks for the ideas. I already have quite a few of those, but apart from the helianthemums, things are either blooming sparsely or not at all. I think the problem is that the garden is so small and crowded that things like dahlias don't have the space they need to give of their best. I think in a few weeks the asters/ chrysanths /ceratostigmas/ sedums will be out, there's just a bit of a gap right now.
I realise that I now have at least 4 lobelias, they've kind of crept up on me, but they need a year or two to bulk up.
Hardy fuschias - great idea, don't know why I haven't got any. A trip to the garden centre is in order for today!

Hi G.N.

Have to agree with Japanese Anemones mentioned above: I have a bright pinky-purple one, forgotten the name of it.

Miscanthus sinensis types are coming into flower now, 'Ferner Osten' has a deep purple flower; 'Morning Light' has excellent variegation.