POLEMONIUM SONIA’S BLUEBELL

The slightly fragrant, pale blue flowers of this hybrid variety of the hardy Polemonium, or Jacob’s Ladder, make their first appearance in the garden in Spring, but manage to keep on flowering into Summer too.

MOCK ORANGE

This is a simple flower from a Mock Orange shrub – Phiadelphus aurea.  This shrub is mainly grown for its bright golden/green leaves yet I find that the wonderful perfume from the flowers fills the garden on most days. In fact, I find it has a better scent than the more popular and supposedly better varieties.

RIBES ODORATUM

This is the absolutely gorgeous yellow flowering current, Ribes odoratum. Whilst the small flowers are certainly pretty enough as they clothe this large shrub it is their wonderful scent that is a winner. Some gardening sites consider the scent to be clove-like but to me it more of a mix of honeysuckle and lily, with some hyacinth thrown in for good measure. In my garden it is planted opposite my back door so I catch the sweet scent whenever I walk out of the house, making a real lift on a dull day.