Roses for scent

The irresistibly sweet, sultry scent of the rose has inspired Shakespearean sonnets, films, songs and stories like no other. Growing roses goes hand in hand with filling your garden with perfume, and there are dozens of richly fragrant roses to choose from in our garden centre. We've picked five of our favourites:

'Zéphyrine Drouhin' is a wonderful deep pink climbing rose, smothering walls and fences in a waterfall of sumptuous double flowers with a lovely, heady scent.

'Graham Thomas' is a striking butterscotch-yellow rose with generous flowers and a deliciously fresh perfume. It was voted the world's most popular rose in 2003.

'Mme Isaac Perreire' is one of the most romantic of old-fashioned cottage garden roses, with big, blowsy double pink flowers and a superbly sweet, rich fragrance.

'Roseraie de l'Hay' is nothing if not dramatic: deep wine-red, with masses of flowers with a spicy, clove-like scent followed by big red hips in autumn.

'Gertrude Jekyll' has an intoxicating old-rose perfume but it's a modern rose, bred to combine the old- fashioned scent of traditional roses with the strong, disease-free growth of today's plants.

Please ask the staff in our garden centre in Chislehurst, Newchurch, Canterbury, Welling and Newport for more information and advice about scented roses for your garden.