THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

But it’s no good piling one scent on top of another – they need appreciating one at a time, so plan a changing sequence over the whole year. And if you are choosing new scented plants, go for the best.

My hit-list starts in April with viburnum carlesii, which has a profusion of fragrant, apple blossom-like flowers offset by soft green foliage.

In May it has to be lilacs: hybrids such as “Charles Jolly” are the best known, although they last only three weeks and take up a fair bit of space. In a small garden try the compact (2m x 2m) species lilac syringa microphylla “Superba” which has very fragrant, rosy-pink flowers in May and again, on and off, in autumn.

In June the clove scent of old-fashioned pinks is staggering, if brief, and from then on you could have fragrant roses in flower until September or October – “Margaret Merril” and “Paul Shirville” top my list of bush types with max strength scent, and any number of the shrubby New English roses have a romantic, traditional scent.

For a pergola, wall or arch in a sunny spot, I’d go for the slightly delicate climber trachelospermum jasminoides which in July and August has an intoxicating perfume. Or go for a jasmine, jasminum officinale “Grandiflorum” from July well into September.

In October there is the haunting scent of clerodendrum trichotomum “Fargesii”, which is strongest in the evening.

 Through the winter you have an assortment of witch-hazels, wintersweet and the shrubby honeysuckle lonicera fragrantissima to look forward to.