Heady scent Jasmine has pretty star-shaped flowers that give off a heady scent and last from summer through to early autumn. It will also twine its way up supports and fences. There are several varieties: some pure white, some with pink-tinged flowers and others yellow, such as Jasminum nudiflorum, which flowers in winter and cheers up the grey months at the beginning of the year.

A drop of lemon

Add Mediterranean glamour to your garden with a citrus tree – and you will also have a ready supply of lemons for your G&T. Citruses aren’t fully hardy, though, somake sure you have somewhere sheltered to keep them over winter. For that reason, it is best to grow them in pots, so you can move them around easily. Their white blossom smells lovely, too.

Climbing up the walls Beckwith has trained a wisteria along the walls of her house. Not only does it produce pretty lilac flowers on hanging racemes in early summer, the twining branches are beautiful in themselves, too. Wisteria does need careful pruning, though, so if you don’t feel confident enough to wield the secateurs yourself, employ a gardener.

Stock pots Stock is grown for its fabulous fragrance and comes in many colours, as well as white. It is a member of the cabbage family, however, so if you are cutting it for a vase, make sure you remove the lower leaves as they can get pretty smelly pretty quickly. Beckwith grows hers in an elegant urn, so once flowering is over, it can be easily replaced.

Explore Gardens

• Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

• Chelsea Flower Show

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