Scabiosa "Ace of Spades" - This is one for chocoholics, "Ace of Spades" is a mass of velvet and maroon with little white pins that have a pincushion effect. What a beautiful flower this is, nestle them among green foliage of alchemilla for comptempory color scheming. Allow last flowers to self-sow.

Delphinium Belladonna Group - If you are looking for grace and charm then Belladonna hybrids are for you. They are ideal for summoning a romantic effect, look wonderful around cottages, and bring an English type of charm to your garden. For a full season of color grow with peonies, poppies and dahlias. Cut down first spikes once they have flowered for a second flush of blooms.

Papaver " Lady Frederick Moore" - A charming peach poppy is much softer on eye than traditional pillar box red oriental, and is easier to blend with pastels of early summer. Grow in sun and hope for gentle weather to prolong this tissue paper like flower.

Monarda "Capricorn" - Think magenta, think hardy geranium? Why not try an unusual monarda instead with its beautiful aromatic foliage and spidery petals totally adored by bees. The stunning color and shapes make it a good contender with spikes of lythrum and veronica, best planted in sun where soil does not get too dry nor space too crowded.

LLathyrus latifolius - A delightful sweet pea that is everlasting but without sweet scent,so you can never quite have it all. However, with strong aromas from flowers above this pretty flower, I think that it is worth having in your garden. The flowers are much bigger than annual L.odoratus,with iridescent shells for petals and twining tendrils that obliginly twirlup small trees or wires on sunny fences. Give them occasional folier feed and cut down last years foliage in winter.

Acunthus mallis - Most perennials have unremarkable leaves, but not this stunning bear's breeches. Acunthus makes a versatile backdrop for classic herbaceous borders or jungle style foliage. The dark glossy leaves and spikes of dusky hooded flowers will make a show all summer long. Water well in dry summers.

Achillea "Walther Funcke" - If pastels are not your bag, spice things up instead with paprika shades of "Walter Funcke"! Add a scattering of yellow day lilies and mix in wispy blonde leaves of ponytail grass, (Stipa tenuissima), for good measure. It makes a compact drought tolerant mix for a sunny border where space is tight.

Thalictrum delavayi - Verbena bonariensis is not only see-through plant. The tall meadow rue is wonderful airy for front of a border, with perenial ferny foliage and clouds of tiny, fluffy flowers on skinny purple stems. Grow on cool side of garden where soil does not get too dry in summer.

These are just a few of my favorite wonderfully scented flowers and plants that I think will add a soft to dramatic color to your garden. So why not let your imagination and flair for color work magic on your garden. I can tell you that I feel like a true artist when my garden is in full bloom.

Marie K Fisher is an avid gardening enthusiast with a passion for exotic flowers and wondeful colors. She is a regular contributor to Garden Center Showplace a leading online Garden Center. For more details of the superb range of products offered, and also more Featured Articles And Tips on Gardening visit http://www.gardencentershowplace.com

If you have carnations in your garden where calyx has a bad habit of splitting, try these old time fixes. That's green portions that surrounds petals. First stake each individual stem upright so it will not bend over. If that doesn't work try putting tiny rubber bands around calyx to prevent splitting. It could be fun explaining to guests your gardening technique here.

Keep watering, weeding and putting mulch on soil to proper depth around your flowers, shrubs and trees as described in other articles on our website. Heed warnings in those articles as well.

Roses have chores that should be done this month too. Be on look out for suckers coming from roses in your garden. Where roses grow on their own roots, maybe reared from cuttings, there should be no suckers at all. But many roses we buy have been grafted to a stronger root stock and sometimes this root stock will send out suckers. Any suckers from roots, or from stem below graft, should be removed as far below surface of soil as possible carefully. (You may wish you could remove other suckers from your life as easily as with your gardening.)

Also, at this time, rose budding can be done. It is a very interesting project. There are many points to learn and do. These are: right stage at which to take a bud, how to trim bud, how to make cut for bud and where, how to insert bud and how to secure it. This topic will be covered in our gardening tips more fully at another time.