Some of them can even give wildlife a helping hand over the coming months

The warm days of summer have now mostly passed us by, but this doesn't mean you have to say goodbye to colourful blooms in your garden just yet.

The National Trust, a charity which preserves historic buildings, gardens, woodlands and countryside spaces across the UK, has published some advice on maintaining your garden over the autumn months, as temperatures start to drop and leaves turn brown and follow suit.

Along with tips on mulching your borders and splitting your perennials, it has also recommended some cheery autumn and winter blooming plants ideal for planting this September. For nature lovers, these have an additional benefit - they will provide food for pollinators and potentially even garden birds, at a time when it starts to get harder to come by.

Here are a few of their top recommended flowers which you can pick up from your local garden centre now (making sure they were grown in peat-free compost, for maximum environmental impact):

Also known as coneflowers and black-eyed susans, these flowers are made up of bright yellow petals to bring back memories of the summer sun, surrounding a striking black centre. You can also get orange, red, and even chocolate brown varieties.

The National Trust says that these colourful blooms will flower best if planted in full sun. Most importantly, if you plant them in autumn and leave the seed heads on over winter, they will provide food for birds and shelter for insects.

Asters are attractive, daisy-like flowers that come in many shades of blue, punk, purple and white, and flower throughout the autumn months. They are especially easy to grow in sunny garden borders, although the Trust says some varieties can cope with a partially-shaded spot.

They are a good food source for garden pollinators like bees and butterflies, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, especially since they bloom at a time of year when many other flowering plants are dwindling.

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These are showy white or pink flowers with big, rounded petals, with plants that shrink back over the winter months, hiding underground. They enjoy a partially shaded spot, making them ideal for planting underneath trees, the Trust says. And once they've settled in, they will naturally form large clumps of flowers that will brighten up any garden - although you must take care not to let them spread unchecked.

As well as providing food for pollinators during the autumn, they too will develop fluffy seed-heads during the winter that can give hungry birds an energy boost.

If you have a shadier garden, then autumn-flowering cyclamen will be your best bet to add a welcome splash of colour, the National Trust says. These tuberous plants are best planted in the autumn, are easy to grow if you keep them out of direct sunlight, and their upturned, heart-like flowers will likely keep blooming throughout the winter.

Cyclamen drops nutritious seedpods which are quite popular with wildlife, including smaller (but still helpful) garden insects like woodlice/slaters and ants, according to the owners of the award-winning Four Seasons Garden in the West Midlands.

Interested in finding out more about creating a nature-friendly garden? Here are some of the top trees you can plant to support wildlife - and here are some ways you can help garden birds as the cold months creep closer.