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Surround your roses with strongly scented companion plants, such as lavender, thyme, rue and garlic chives, to help keep aphids at bay. While gardeners are attracted by their beauty, rose pests are deterred by the herbs' strong scents. March - April

'Freda' - a pretty plant with purple-tinted leaves and pink flowers. The arbour is gorgeous to look at, but becomes a more favourite haunt as it provides me with a leafy retreat, laden with the best of summer perfume.Add to this some night-scented stock

foolish as to think that spring is here - we are more than likely to get whacked by frost or snow before then - but at least it is showing willing.One of the best things about this time of year is scent. Flowers are pretty rare but there are a few plants

of that fabulous scent: the philadelphus, or mock orange.There are a number of different varieties, all deciduous with white flowers and unremarkable foliage. In the first garden I had that actually possessed any soil (the first two were just concrete yards) I

flowers. Some of those flowers must have been monarda.It's curious how plants – particularly scented ones – can trigger memories. I have an almost encyclopedic memory of everything that grew in the garden of my early years, even if I can't name it all. I

-shaped flowers. When planted alongside carrots, its strong scent confuses and deters the carrot root fly, which can normally smell carrots from up to a mile away.Garlic chivesLavender, Lavandula angustifolia attracts a range of pollinators, including bees

Watch Monty Don as he creates a scented garden using a variety of lavender plants, with suggestions for encouraging bushy growth.summerMore advice on growing herbsMedicinal herbs by Jekka McVicarPicking herbsRaising new mint plantsPlanting herbs

Sow cyclamen and schizanthus for indoor flowersBuy scented-leaf pelargoniums, such as 'Chocolate Peppermint' and 'Lady Plymouth' Plant pots with heat-treated freesia corms to produce fragrant flowers this summerWatch out for pests, checking under leaves

. Flowers in March and April.'Spellbinder'If you want a classic daff with bright, golden trumpets and a delicate scent, then 'Dutch Master' is for you. It's perfect for Easter vases, growing 45cm tall and flowering in April. Plant in drifts to break up

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