Gardening

Rosa ‘Félicité Parmentier’ AGM Sheila Dearing Rosa ‘Fellowship’ AGM Sheila Dearing

Summer fragrance

There are many reasons for choosing one plant over another for your garden, but for me, fragrance is one of the deciding factors.

Rosemoor is famous for its rose gardens and on a warm summer’s day, the air is heavy with the mingling scents of numerous rose varieties. Roses have a huge variety of fragrance types and the choice is overwhelming. You need to choose your roses when they are in flower so that you can smell them for yourself and not rely on the seller’s description; everyone’s sense of smell is slightly different and fragrance can change with the age of a flower and the weather. The Queen Mother’s Rose Garden is a good place to start your research, where massed plantings of modern roses bred since 1867 include floribunda and hybrid tea roses. Rosa ‘Fellowship’ AGM stands out as one of our best floribundas with bright orange flowers and a strong, sweet scent. As the name suggests, tea roses have a fragrance reminiscent of tea leaves and one of our favourites is R. ‘Britannia’ AGM. Heavily scented blooms open a pale pink and gold, darkening to a deeper peachy-orange. The Shrub Rose Garden has a wonderful mix of old fashioned roses including gallicas, albas, damasks and moss roses. R.’Félicité Parmentier’ AGM is a cross between an alba and a damask rose. The fragrance of damask roses has been captured in rose water since ancient times. David Austin repeat flowering hybrids (‘English Roses’) with old rose characteristics, in particular scent, also feature in this garden. R. ‘Mary Rose’ is described as having an old rose scent with a hint of honey and almond blossom and the scent of R. ‘Rosemoor’ AGM is said to have hints of apple, cucumber and violet.

This garden does not rely entirely on roses for scent, or indeed flowers; plantings of Teucrium, Calamantha, Salvia and Nepeta contribute aromatic oils from their foliage to the mix. Aromatic foliage cannot be underestimated and you will come across it throughout Rosemoor. Many of these plants are classed as herbs and come from areas of the world with a mediterranean climate. Apart from those already mentioned, look out for Santolina (e.g. in the Cool Garden), Helichrysum (Herb Garden) and Anthemis (Cottage Garden). Of course, The Mediterranean Garden has a large selection of plants with aromatic foliage and on warm summer days you can imagine that you are on holiday in Spain or France.

Scented flowers have primarily evolved for the bees and butterflies, so if you choose a range of these plants, you will also attract pollinators and help provide forage for our ever

Summer Garden Inspiration

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All you need to create & maintain a beautiful pond throughout Summer.

Harvesting courgettes Tim Sandall

dwindling population of insects. Buddleja is well known for attracting butterflies with very fragrant pink, lavender, purple or white blooms. Classic cottage garden plants such as sweet peas, Dianthus, Lobularia, Phlox and Philadelphus are loved by day flying insects and night scented plants such as Nicotiana, Hesperis and Trachelospermum jasminoides are great for night time visitors.

Summer is a time of taking it easy in the garden, so make sure you surround your seating areas with fragrant plants to breathe in the scents of summer as you relax with a cup of tea or glass of wine.

Jobs for July and August

• Deadhead bedding plants and repeat-flowering perennials to ensure continuous flowering. Pick courgettes at around 10-12.5cm long, before they become marrows. Regular harvesting will encourage more to form. The flowers can be eaten raw in salads or stuffed and fried. Use straight away as they don’t last long. • Clear algae, blanket weed and debris from ponds, and keep them topped up. Even wildlife ponds need some regular maintenance to prevent it from becoming

Weed clogging up a pond Tim Sandall

Potting up strawberry runners Tim Sandall

overgrown and water that is unhealthy for inhabitants. Ideally use rainwater from a butt to top up the level. On still water, spray water over the surface on hot, humid nights to break the surface and improve oxygen levels.

Many indoor plants benefit from being placed outside for the summer. This will save conservatory plants from baking under glass and lessen some pest and disease problems such as red spider mite. • Propagate your strawberries from runners. Insert runners into pots filled with multipurpose compost and peg them down with wire. When they have rooted, sever from the parent plant. • If you grow restricted forms of apples and pears, you need to summer prune now to allow sunlight to ripen the fruit and ensure good cropping next year. For details on how to do this check out our advice pages: rhs.org.uk/ fruit/apples/summer-pruning.

Sheila Dearing Garden Technical Services Officer