SURVEYING the borders on a sun filled September day proved a heartening exercise. Rather than the gloom of autumn, there was a positive note with many plants rallying well and the promise of later flowers to carry us through to shorter, darker days.

The ubiquitous shrubby mallows play their part so well. Pruned hard in early spring, they grow with alarming speed to make healthy bushes about six feet high and as much across. Seeing them virtually everywhere we can be dismissive of such old bores, but they are really useful company when given the right partners. The pity is that in some places they are allowed to congregate in such seeming masses as to become a threatening mob.

But they are easy and so it is no wonder some can overdo them. The most usual is Lavatera olbia `Rosen' with deep pink flowers. One in the average garden would be quite enough, flowering happily from mid summer to the frost. More refined in colouring, a lovely pale pink with a darker eye is Lavatera "Barnsley". These assort so well with pinks, mauves, blues and whites that they become indispensable where there is a bit of space and there is a need for more permanent company among delphiniums, phloxes, campanulas, lobelias and loosestrife.

The white flowered relative, Lavatera thuringiaca `Ice Cool', is more refined and every spring gives the impression it is about to finally give up. So sad and sickly does it seem after winter that I am inclined to throw it out, end its misery and spare mine further. It is slow to recover and lacks the rude vigour of its pink relatives, rarely showing much enthusiasm for the job before July. But then it seems to smarten up and makes a presentable show, with a mass of white flowers each displaying a white eye. For smaller gardens this would be a nicer choice than the bullying pink one.

The shrubby mallows are shortlived and exhaust themselves after a few hectic years, so it is wise to take occasional cuttings which will root with alacrity. This ease of propagation explains their sometimes domineering presence in gardens at the expense of virtually everything else.

Annual mallows are giving nice returns for very little effort in my garden. Lavatera `Mont Blanc' is a nice clear white which stays under two feet in height: perhaps it will oblige and make itself at home throwing up occasional descendants in odd corners next year. If it does, it will be welcome.

More welcome will be its sister Lavatera `Silver Cup', which we grow for the first time. The name may be somewhat misleading as the flowers are not silver but a glowing rosy pink. The plants are robust and well branched, with large flowers beautifully veined with richer pink and white. Quite an eye catcher near the edge of the border, it keeps the show going from mid July onwards showing no sign of stopping or of exhaustion.

Chance seedlings next year will be welcome but matters cannot be left to luck so `Silver Cup' will go on the shopping list, as will more annual cosmos with which it assorts so nicely. The pink of the mallow being just right with the assorted pinks, carmines, lavenders and mauves of the cosmos. Both are such easy annuals and so useful for filling in gaps which happen in even the best regulated gardens. (It is always consoling to tell yourself that).

Occasional gaps will be filled by annuals which appear from the previous years seeds. Opium poppies in most gardens oblige in this way as will red orache or Atriplex. The mix varies from garden to garden depending on the soil and the cultivation. How nice if the Chinese forget me not, Cynoglossum `Blue Showers' would join the happy band of recurring annuals. The turquoise blue flowers are eyecatching making one wonder what a forget me not is doing, looking so happy and bright in the autumn garden. A delightful filler for the border, it goes to about two feet in height and the flowers are set off by grey green foliage. There is a white flowered form, `Avalanche': pleasing it is but a poor thing compared with `Blue Showers'. Such pleasure from a packet of seed, so inexpensive and such little trouble. It is as near to instant gardening as one could wish.