There’s a nip in the air which, to me, signals the end of summer and provides a wake-up call to start planting spring bulbs to brighten up borders and patios next year.

Yet the wealth of varieties on offer, from crocus and dwarf narcissi to fragrant hyacinths and majestic tulips, can leave many gardeners wondering what to choose.

Suppliers are constantly trying to help customers select the best combinations. Suttons (suttons.co.uk), for instance, has a range called ‘Plant-O-Mat’, pre-planted bulbs inserted in individual compartments in a biodegradable tray.

You just dig a hole, put the tray in and cover it with compost.

The range features a number of combinations, colours and sizes. They also cater for window boxes and containers.

If you want something different which is going to stand the test of time, Gardening Which?, the Consumers’ Association magazine, has recently trialled a number of new bulbs to see how they fare.

Researchers found some new varieties flower more consistently and for longer than many older varieties.

Last autumn 50 newly bred varieties of spring-flowering bulbs were grown alongside five well-known varieties – daffodils Delnashaugh and Dutch Master, and tulips Ballerina, Mount Tacoma and Red Riding Hood – for comparison.

Bulbs were planted in October: hyacinths 15cm deep, narcissi twice their own depth and tulips at three times their own depth.

In spring, the bulbs’ development was monitored, when they flowered, how long they lasted and sizes, colours and scents.

While testing, researchers noticed a lot of colour-changing varieties (such as the tulip Caribbean Parrot) with flowers which open in one colour then change to another as they age, adding a new interest.

New daffodils which came out on top included Ferris Wheel (youtulip, youtulip.

co.uk), a large bright yellow variety which grows to 40cm and produces immense trumpets with a frilly rim, flowering in April for around three weeks.

A more subtle variety whose flowering period lasted up to 32 days was Beautiful Eyes (J Parker’s, jparkers.co.uk) which has small, straight stems holding clusters of two or three creamy flowers with yellow centres, and which gives off a heady fragrance.

Tulips recommended included Mistress Mystic (Spalding Plant & Bulb Company, spaldingbulb.

co.uk), a pink goblet-shaped flower which grows to 60cm and looks ideal in the middle of a border, and the zingy Caribbean Parrot (Thompson & Morgan, thompson-morgan.com), which lasted much longer than any other parrot-type tulip in the trial and looked wonderful in a pot.

Its most impressive feature, though, was its colour-changing flowers – which started mainly yellow, but deepened as they aged, until eventually they were almost completely red.