My No1 fan club for fragrant rock stars

Can you recommend some good plants for an alpine rockery garden, please? Dominic, St Albans, Herts DAVID: Alpine varieties of dianthus (pictured) are a great option for a rockery and also bring a lovely fragrance as well as vibrant pink flowers. And you could also try creeping thyme, sedum, sempervivum or aubrieta, which produces a carpet of pretty purple flowers.

Viburnum works hard to bring fragrance to the garden. It has beautiful, heady flowers that arrive in early spring. Try Viburnum carlesii or juddii for spectacular flowers and a sweet aroma.

For something bigger, philadelphus, known as mock orange, has hugely scented blooms. ‘Belle Etoile’ is one of my favourites. Or breathe in lilac, lavender and rose, planted in beds and borders.

If you are looking for scent out of season, try Daphne, which is probably one of the strongest perfumed flowering plants. It brings a lovely scent earlier in the year than most other plants.

Or get night-scented phlox. It’s a small plant – I have one in my garden – that doesn’t smell at all in the day. Then, in the evening, it suddenly kicks in with a very special fragrance.

FOLIAGE PLANTS

Scent is not just about flowers. Foliage plays an important part, plus you get to reach out and touch a plant’s foliage to get that beautiful scent.

Rosemary is an exceptional plant, not only as a top shrub for your garden but also for its culinary uses.

Sage and oregano are also superbly fragrant herbs. Sage comes in a variety of colours, including purple, gold and the classic silvery green. And oregano blasts out the freshest scent.

Another top choice for fragrance is Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’, otherwise known as Russian sage. It has incredibly aromatic foliage. Or try