Two plants, on either side of our drive, immediately come to mind; firstly, the stunning climbing rose, Rosa “Zephirine Drouhin”, with a fragrance any perfume manufacturer could only wish for.

As they fade, the Chinese Star Jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, comes into full flower on the other side of the drive. The fragrance of its clusters of tiny white flowers are almost overpowering.

To complete a trio to test the senses at this time is Philadelphus x virginalis or Mock Orange in flower in garden centres now. It is not to be confused with Choisya ternata, the evergreen Mexican Orange Blossom. Out of more than 65 varieties of Philadelphus, P.x virginalis is probably the best with its double, highly fragrant flowers. The UK’s Royal Horticultural Society gave this shrub its Award of Garden Merit in 1926.

After a lattice screen fixed to timber posts had disintegrated over time, with the loss of an entangled climbing rose, I retained the uprights and horizontally placed wires, spaced every 30cm.

This provided perfect support for six different varieties of Clematis trained along the wires that included the winter flowering Clematis napaulensis to the first of the spring clematis, C. montana rubens, with small, pink flowers and purple-tinged leaves all summer.

I am also training it to climb through the branches of a nearby maple, Acer “Bloodgood”, which has deep purple leaves all growing season.

Clematis are so easy to grow. The main secret is a cool root zone and the old-timers’ idea was to place one or more roofing tiles over the root zone. This is just as applicable as it was 100 years ago. Lifting the tiles the morning after a very hot day will reveal condensation under the tile.

MOST French lavenders flower early in spring and finish well before the English summer-flowering lavenders. An exception has been Lavendula “Princess”, introduced last year and featured on this page in August. It has been flowering continuously since then, proving its worth in any garden and I highly recommend it.

Jottings…

• Hoses lying on lawns in hot weather cause scorch marks.
• Water restrictions apply with no sprinklers 9am-6pm.
• Deadhead Rosa “Zephirine Drouhin” with hand shears once the first flush of flowers finishes.
• It’s time to clip back, by 50 per cent, Michaelmas daisies, Salvias and chrysanthemums.
• IN a recent item promoting organic products for gardens, I wrote that Go-Go Juice was “Certifed Organic”. This is not the case. Its manufacturer, Neutrog Fertilizers, confirms that the product is not certified, but an “organically based, high-microbial solution with a wide range of benefits not found in non-organic chemical compounds”.