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Christmas is fast approaching, and perfume houses will soon be tempting us to buy fragrances for our nearest and dearest. No doubt they'll do a roaring trade, but to my mind natural perfume can't be beaten. Fragrant plants and flowers add another

strong, powerful, fragrance that fills the surrounding air. It's also nice having pure white flowers at this time of year to ring the changes from an abundance of yellow.Standing by my choisya and savouring its scent I'm struck by how much I'm enjoying it

-white flowers open, they release their strong, distinctive scent and I bring the bowls indoors. I know they won’t last long, and grown in gravel in this way the bulbs will exhaust their inner reserves, so won’t survive for another year. But gardening is all

budget, and you can fill borders to overflowing with a selection of hardy annuals like sunflowers, calendula, poppy, love-in-a-mist, larkspur, poached egg flowers, lavatera, alyssum, cornflower, night scented stock, and climbers like nasturtium

, such as flower form, colour and scent, with the repeat-flowering characteristics and performance of new varieties. This was admirably captured in 'Graham Thomas', one of his first English roses.I was charmed by 'Graham Thomas' from the moment I set eyes on it. I

harsh sun. Organic gardeners usually refer to companion plants as those deterring pests in some way. Tagetes planted alongside tomatoes and crops is a good example, where the strong pungent scent of the tagetes foliage helps mask the scent of the crop

moments our gardens they don't last for long; like blooms that open for just one day; scent filling the air; the antics of a bee quenching its thirst on a nectar-rich flower.You just need to be there and treasure that moment. Sometimes others are around

of the few flowers I actually cut and bring indoors. A tall rosebud vase is perfect for a small bunch, and I position it somewhere I regularly pass during the day so I can pick it up, breathe deeply, and lose myself in its sweet scent.There has only been one