The walled rose garden at Hever Castle in Kent

Whether you are looking for tempting cultivars, design ideas, or simply the chance to immerse yourself in summer colour and scent, your time will be well spent among the rose collections at these RHS Recommended Gardens.

The walled rose garden at Hever Castle in Kent is designed to deliver what Head Gardener Neil Miller calls ‘knockout impact’. On entering the 1.6ha (4 acre) garden, visitors are greeted by the sight and scent of some 3,000 roses, most of them densely planted in formal, immaculately maintained beds. Each bed contains just one cultivar, creating impressive blocks of colour. In recent years Neil and his team have focused increasingly on scent; one to seek out is powerfully-fragranced cerise R. Buxom Beauty (‘Korbilant’).

The garden at Millgate House in Richmond, North Yorkshire, is testament to just how versatile roses can be. There are more than 70 rose cultivars throughout the compact town garden: clambering up stone walls, where nodding blooms can be appreciated; trained as standards; and grown as shrubs in herbaceous beds. In late June the most spectacular display comes from Rosa helenae, its pale lemon blooms cascading from a metal frame, while R. ‘Maigold’ is draped along a cast-iron balcony.

The 0.3ha (0.7 acre) rose garden at Houghton Hall in Norfolk is divided into two contrasting areas: one stately and formal, the other in a more relaxed style. The inner garden features a series of box-edged parterre beds, laid out to mimic a ceiling design inside Houghton Hall. Classical statues and a 3m (10ft) scalloped yew hedge complete the crisp effect. The outer garden has an informal style, and the roses are interplanted with Philadelphus, rosemary, peonies and euphorbias, a mass of colour, perfume and variety.

RHS members can visit each of these gardens free of charge in June (Member 1 only). Simply present your valid Individual Membership card on arrival.