I’ve just had two very eminent gardeners for Sunday lunch – not cannabalistically speaking, you understand. Both arrived bearing gifts suitable for a teetotal plantaholic like me. There was apple juice from Waterperry, a bouquet of garden flowers, some home-made quince jelly and some autumn-flowering snowdrops – bulbs of Galanthus reginae-olgae. It just proves that good gardeners have all-year-round gardens capable of brightening up November. Thankfully, there are only four days left and then there are roughly 20 until the days start to spin out again. Roll on spring!

Autumn-flowering snowdrops (which can be bought from Avon Bulbs – 01460 242177) mostly flower in early November, although there is a spring version named vernalis. These autumn-flowering bulbs mainly emanate from Greece and they are found in woodland, scrub and among rocks. The species was first identified in 1870. Most bulbs in gardens track back to Primrose Warburg, who bulked up bulbs given to her by Nancy Lindsay. Both were Oxfordshire residents.

When I lived in Hook Norton, with a drier and sunnier garden, it did very well for me. But my move to a colder, more-exposed garden has seen it struggle to get established again. My new bulbs have therefore been planted in one of the sunnier bits of the woodland garden at Spring Cottage.

If you looked down on the leaves of G. reginae-olgae before it flowered you might well think this snowdrop was a crocus because the midrib of each leaf has a pale central stripe.

When the flower appears, the blunt-ended leaves are only a inch or so long and the dainty snowdrop flower opens widely to a full single flower with greenish-yellow inner markings.

Close by, I have a dwarf narcissi called ‘Cedric Morris’ which is already showing yellow and it always flowers before Christmas. Beth Chatto is the best supplier of this, having received bulbs from the flamboyant artist who originally collected it. (01206 822007).

My bunch of cut flowers also contained some gems. Among them were some grey-blue blooms of the winter-flowering iris, Iris unguicularis ‘Walter Butt’ and this will produce a series of flowers from November through to late March. Find it a hot spot against a south-facing wall and preen it at least twice a year to thin out any scruffy leaves. Then let it thrive on neglect. There were also some white flower heads of a shrubby eupatorium now called Ageratina ligustrina, and a late-flowering evergreen clematis along with some white sorbus berries. My own garden relies on two very common garden shrubs that perform well in November. The lemon-yellow flowers of Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’ produce a fountain of spiky flowers above the prickly dark-green leaves. I also use Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ for its almond-pink clusters of flower and these come and go whenever the weather is clement. On a dank November day they pack a powerful hyacinth-like scent that pervades a large area. This common shrub could make an excellent plant for a boundary. Waterperry Gardens sell a fine form. (01844 339254).