A bit of colour.

Pegging out the washing, why don't women get dressed in the morning?
Gladiolus.
Cactus dahlia. These will flower until first frost at the end of
October/November. You go to bed everything looks good, a slight
frost in the night and all the plants are black.
It is best to dig the flowers out before this happens, clean the tubers
leaving about 4 inches of stalk on them, and store them in a frost free
place over winter.
Next year you will be able to split them and increase your stock.