Girly fluffy month!
June is a romantic, pastelly, frilly, scented sort of month, the hardness of July is yet to come and everything is still rounded, fresh, soft and lush.

Roses top the list for many as the epitome of all things feminine and romantic. I prefer the luxuriousness and glamour of the generally once flowering older roses [which unfortunately sulk into brown mush if we have a soggy June]. Older well scented varieties in shades of pink include 'Félicité Parmentier', densely packed flowers in palest pink fading to almost white, the icing pink 'Ispahan', the looser flowered 'Jacques Cartier' and the classic climber 'Zéphirine Drouhin'. If you want old fashioned style roses that are more reliable and less demanding it is worth considering David Austin's 'English Roses'. They are mostly repeat flowering and stockier growers although some display the stiff Hybrid Tea habit which is less appealing. Amongst the many to consider are the pale pink 'Sharifa Asma' with cup shaped doubled flowers and a good scent and the taller growing 'Graham Thomas' which bears rich golden yellow flowers.

Rugosa roses are often consigned to the end of the garden as a hedging plant but they carry one of the most heady scents of all the roses, it is worth hunting out less common varieties such as 'Jens Munk'.

The ruffled bearded irises are at their best in June and there are some stunning scented cultivars. Having grown the early flowering Iris germanica florentina I discovered its oddly violet scent but never associated the larger bearded cultivars with scent until an encounter with 'English Cottage', a robust grower with crystalline white, blue edged petals. Other scented varieties to consider include 'La Vie en Rose', delicious pale pink, 'Big Dipper', palest yellow, and the sky blue, 'Jane Phillips'. These iris need their rhizomes in sun to get the best flowers so don't crowd them around with floppy plants.

Sweet peas will be starting to open their frilly flowers as they ramp up canes and various other supports. In the past I have grown the older varieties which are mostly well scented but with smallish flowers. Some of the 'modern' larger flowered sweet peas have little scent - what is the point of breeding a sweet pea without scent? Unwins seed catalogue gives an indication of the depth of scent which is useful, the paler colours generally have the stronger scent. This summer I am trying the white 'Royal Wedding', lemony-cream 'Champagne Bubbles' and pale blue 'Cambridge Blue'. For a well scented pink Unwins suggest the old variety 'Prima Donna'.

A number of violas are scented although you might have to get down on your hands and knees to appreciate them. 'Primrose Dame' has perky little pale yellow flowers and 'Maggie Mott' is an old silvery blue Victorian cultivar which makes a good underplanting companion for rose beds. Another cottage garden favourite is the dianthus, 'Bridal Veil' and 'Mrs Sinkins' have very double frilly white flowers, other well scented pinks include 'Inchmery' and the familiar two tone 'Doris'.

Herbaceous peonies are a wonderfully old fashioned indulgence in blowsy creams and baby pinks. Kelways describe 'Solange' from 1907 as scented buff and pale salmon and 'Duchesse de Nemours' from 1856 as a highly scented lemony white. Peonies are fairly easy to please once settled and will go on for years, I have inherited one that came from my great grandmother's garden.

This June indulge your senses, visit Iford gardens near Bath, Mottisfont in Hampshire and Kiftsgate Court and Hunt's Court in Gloucestershire - celebrate the romance and heady scents of early summer.

My monthly gardening column from The Bath Magazine - Bath's best local magazine for events, listings, news and views. Whether you live in and around Bath or are visiting us, it's a great source of local information.

Links:
Article on scented plants
Bouts Cottage Nursery - Violas
Iford Manor
Kelways Irises
Kiftsgate Court
Woottens of Wenhaston - Iris [also try locally Kelways and The Iris Garden Yeovil]