Vine Cottage in June

By early summer, the parterre is a glorious sight with a central bed filled with Rosa‘Louise Odier’, a fragrant rich pink Old Rose, tempered by clumps of catmint, Nepeta x faassenii. ‘I chose roses for their combination of strong scent and rich colours.’ The planting of the four outer beds mirrors each, with more Old Roses — ‘Reine des Violettes’ mingling with the modern ‘Anna Pavlova, interspersed with Astrantia‘Roma’, mounds of Geranium ‘Blue Cloud’, and dark blue spikes of Salvia x sylvestris‘Dear Anja’. ‘Having worked as an interior designer, I instinctively knew which shades of pink and blue would work best together,’ she says.