With a sprinkling of luck and a little low sunlight to set off your star plants, November can be a beautiful month in the garden. In fact, it can be golden. Which is exactly what we need to keep the spirits high when the nights are drawing in.

To help your backyard shine this month, I've picked a stellar line-up of trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses for a November glow. From the butter-yellows of fall foliage stars and the last dahlias to the burnished buff and amber of some of my favourite ornamental grasses, it's a palette to warm and soothe the soul.

While it may be tempting to leave the fall gardening jobs at the gate and hunker down inside, I promise you won't regret getting out there on a sunny day and appreciating what's looking good. And if you find your garden lacking, it's not too late. There's still time to plant before the frosts set in, whether that's for fall interest or for the gardening year to come. I've got my eye on a 'Brooks Road' Ginkgo tree from Garden Good Direct – its neat upright shape is perfect for smaller gardens like mine.

For golden late-fall colour in flower form, top prize has to go to the wonderful group of shrubs that are mahonias.

Most begin flowering in late autumn and continue until early spring, with long flower spikes decked in lily-of-the-valley-scented yellow-orange blooms, which are a magnet for hungry late-season pollinators. In fact, they're one of a select group of plants that look better in fall than summer.

So what comes first in any mahonia growing guide? You need to know that they're ideal for the back of a shaded or partly shaded border, where their dramatic glossy green evergreen spiked foliage creates a handsome foil for a huge range of other shade-tolerant shrubs and perennials.

They're tough, easygoing plants too, thriving in most kinds of soil and needing very little in the way of pruning or shaping. Just let them get on with it and they'll flower for years.

Some of the best varieties for the earliest flowers include Mahonia nitens 'Cabaret' (USDA Zones 6-8), which begins its flowering display in late summer, its orange buds opening to cheerful yellow. 'Volcano' (USDA Zones 7-9) begins to bloom in September, with coppery buds opening to golden yellow.

Then there's x 'Winter Sun', (USDA Zones 5-9) a November starter with sunny yellow flowers – its grows to around 16ft (5m), so it's one for a big garden. Finally, try Soft Caress' (USDA Zones 5-9) from Perfect Plants, a more compact variety with no prickles and bright yellow flowers from late autumn to early spring.

Plant a Ginkgo biloba and you'll be investing in one of the most ancient trees to exist, its fossils dating back 170 million years.

More importantly perhaps, you'll be providing year-round joy in the garden, with a spectacular burst of butter-yellow fall foliage to enjoy in November.

Ginkgo, or the maidenhair tree, is one for a large garden, as it will eventually grow to around (25m). How to grow a ginkgo tree? Well, the basics are that it thrives in a sunny spot in any kind of soil and won't need pruning, but do put in some decent tree stakes to stabilise it in its formative years. 'Autumn Gold', available from Nature Hills, is a particularly colorful cultivar.

'Karl Foerster' is one of my favorite ornamental grasses, brilliant in smaller backyards too as it's very neat and upright, shooting up in early spring, flowering in summer then holding on to its handsome soft yellow-buff seedheads right into winter.

When you're thinking about landscaping with ornamental grasses, planted en masse (find feather reed grass at Nature Hills), it makes a useful and beautiful feathery screen to around 6ft (1.8m) in height in a sunny spot. Ideal for USDA Zones 5-9.

It needs nothing more than to be cut down to the ground in late winter so it can begin its growth cycle once more.

One of the brightest, most vibrant ornamental grasses in fall, Carex testacea is a tough New Zealand native with elegant arching leaves that turn yellow-orange in fall.

Most aren't too challenging in terms of how to grow ornamental grasses. This one is no exception, growing to around 2ft (60cm) in height and spread – the cultivar 'Prairie Fire', available at Nature Hills, is particularly colorful.

Plant it towards the front of a border, somewhere the low fall sun will light up its foliage – it deserves that forethought, and you'll love the glowing result.

Combined with dahlias in fall tones (see below) it's glorious. It's also good in a pot, ideally a nice tall one so the fountain-like foliage can cascade unimpeded over the sides.

This large shrub or small tree is one of the best witch hazel varieties – you can buy American witch hazel at Garden Goods Direct.

It's stunning during the cooler months of the year when, from mid fall, its flowers open like pale yellow crumpled pompoms or spiders, with a sweet, almost clove-like perfume, and the leaves turn to golden tones.

This is the witch hazel from which medicinal witch-hazel extract is made, and it's a fantastic plant, reaching around 23ft (7m) with handsome spreading branches.

Plant it in sun or part shade, in a sheltered spot tucked away from harsh winds. Underplanted with Carex testacea it makes a stunning fall focal point in a large backyard.

A much underrated plant in my opinion, the climbing hydrangea offers so much throughout the seasons. In summer, its flat white sprays of flowers cover the plant, while in fall its leaves turn a charming soft yellow before they fall. Even in winter its deep rust-brown textured stems bring interest.

It's super useful too, growing up and over a north-facing wall or fence with grace and elegance where little else thrives. I have one covering a deeply shaded fence, where it's incredibly happy.

In the border below it Mahonias add to the golden glow in fall. You can buy climbing hydrangea at Garden Goods Direct. How to grow a climbing hydrangea really isn't too challenging either, it just needs some decent soil and a touch of patience.

It's true that most dahlias are at their peak in around September, but there are plenty that are going strong into November, especially if you live in a sheltered spot or one of the warmer, more western US Zones.

In mid to late autumn it's mainly the pompom, ball and smaller dahlias that are still flowering – simply because the huge dinnerplate varieties use up their flowering energy more quickly.

And they'll go on until the first frosts if you keep cutting back the spent flower stems – one of the most important aspects of learning how to grow dahlias. 'Yellow Jill', 'Golden torch', 'Sunny Boy' are particularly well known for their extended flowering periods, so look out for them online.

I tend to grow my dahlias in pots, then at this time of year pop them into gaps in borders. The yellow ones combine particularly well with the ornamental grasses I mentioned earlier, Carex testacea and 'Karl Foerster', creating pools of honeyed light in the garden.

What to Shop

A big mistake a lot of gardeners make at this time of year is to give up on their outdoor space. There's still so much pleasure to be had, and fall is the perfect time of year to plant.

Enjoy the pleasures of the late season garden with my seven glorious picks for a golden fall garden. They'll bring joy to the garden and happiness to your soul.

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