We’ve rounded up the most beautiful, the most fragrant, the easiest to grow and the all-round gorgeous – roses that promise romance, colour and glorious summer days…

Low-growing Little White Pet always looks neat, tidy and charming. Its rightful place is in the front of the border, edging a path, or in a large container so you can enjoy the sprays of small pink buds, white pompom flowers and musky fragrance at close quarters. Disease-resistant and a doddle to deadhead, this rose is a real gem.

Photo: David Austin Roses

Small wonder Souvenir du Docteur Jamain was so beloved of Vita Sackville-West - she grew it at Sissinghurst, where it's still much admired. You can appreciate this antique climber in your own garden, too, but only if you can offer it rich soil - this exquisite rose thrives on double helpings of well-rotted manure. Best trained against a wall or over an archway, a shady site or north-facing wall suits it just fine. Your reward? Sensational, near-black buds and full, velvet-wine flowers with a perfume as voluptuous as their colouring.

Photo: Crocus.co.uk

Forget insipid lemon roses: award-winning Golden Celebration, with its gently arching growth, has magnificent flowers of the richest buttery yellow. They also have a span the size of a saucer and possess the complex formation of rose breeder David Austin's English roses. Grow this disease-resistant shrub rose in the mixed border with flowering sage, catmint or lavender at its feet, and revel in a perfume that's as outstanding as the blooms themselves.

Photo: David Austin Roses

The Alnwick Rose could be called ‘the rose with everything'... It has luscious, complex blooms, good disease resistance, a beautiful perfume and flowers from early summer through to the first frost. A great mixer, this vigorous shrub rose from the David Austin stable has full-petalled, deeply cupped flowers of sugar pink and a fragrance of old rose mingled with raspberry.

Photo: David Austin Roses

The stems are stiff, the scent is light, and Meg delivers little after its flush of midsummer flowering. Ignore this shortcoming, however, and focus instead on the large, wavy-petalled flowers, because they are among the most beautiful of all roses. Held in small, long-stemmed clusters, they're an exceptional apricot-pink and light amber, with a central boss of golden stamens. Plant Meg against a sunny wall or pillar to appreciate the show fully.

Photo: David Austin Roses

● David Austin Roses (01902 376300; www.davidaustinroses.com) for English and antique roses.

● Peter Beales (01953 454707; www.classicroses.co.uk) for old-fashioned and classic roses

● Harkness (0845 331 3143; www.roses.co.uk), a specialist nursery grower for 125 years, offers a wide selection including hybrid teas, floribundas, patio and border roses.