With the courtyard wall facing west it is the perfect spot for early interest. Many sweet smelling plants need warmth for flowering at the beginning of the year – Chimonanthus praecox, (Wintersweeet) and Abeliophyllum distichum, (the white forsythia). By June they are covered in foliage and act as a support to Ipomea indica and other climbing plants that flower in the summer. The tall white perennial here is Dame’s Violet or Hesperis matronalis. It really is a star in that if it is cut back immediately after flowering then it will produce a second and third flush of blooms throughout the summer.