There are some combinations that make life feel better - strawberries and cream, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, gin and tonic.... but for me, one of the classic combinations which will always bring a heavenly note to summer is the pairing of clematis and roses.

They not only complement each other colour-wise, the rich blues and purples of the clematis contrasting beautifully with the colour palette of the rose, but they also enjoy similar growing conditions as both need a rich, fertile soil, regular feeding with fertilisers high in potash and nitrogen and plenty of watering during the growing season.

Early season clematis, such as C. alpina and C. macropetala, with their bushy habits, are naturally suited to training up and masking the bare stems of climbing and rambler roses.

Among the favourite combinations in my garden is the David Austin English rose, Rosa 'Gertrude Jekyll', which produces beautiful, blousy deep pink fragrant blooms in summer and the Clematis 'Nelly Moser', a soft pink-and-white candy striped hybrid which twines itself around the rose during the summer months.

Clematis can cling gently to other plants by twining their leaf stalks around other stems or supports and will not strangle a rose they are growing through.

When choosing a combination, the easiest option is to go for clematis that flower on the current season's growth as these bloom in late summer and autumn and are pruned in late winter to early spring, at the same time as roses.

Some large-flowering clematis bloom in late spring and early summer on wood produced the previous year. These can be grown through roses but you need to prune them when their first flowers have faded, which you can do while you're dead-heading the rose.

Early to midsummer-flowering types, including C. 'Lasurstern' and C. 'Marie Boisselot', benefit from being thinned to five or six shoots before they are tied into a rose. Fewer flowers may result but these will be larger and more evenly spaced, resulting in a more balanced display.

Effective contrasts include the mauve Clematis 'Prince Charles' with the soft yellow rose 'The Pilgrim'. The clematis has fairly small blooms and suits the shorter habit of the rose. Clematis 'Arctic Queen', with its bold white flowers, sets off the delicate pink of Rosa 'Cornelia'.

If you have a larger area to cover such as an archway or pergola, climbers are ideal for providing a living curtain of colour. The white blooms of the Rosa 'Climbing Iceberg' combine beautifully with the deep mauve blooms of Clematis 'Lasurstern', which will train over an arch to create both a visual showstopper and a fragrance sensation. Alternatively, Clematis 'Romantika' drips with amazing inky-purple flowers and makes a perfect companion for a pale climbing rose.

Some combinations work fantastically well in pots, especially on obelisks, which give their growth plenty of support, but you'll need a really large pot because a climbing rose can make a lot of growth. Try matching Rosa 'Snow Goose', a small repeat-flowering rambler with fragrant pompom white petals, with C. 'The President', which bares deep purple flowers from late spring to early autumn.

CHELSEA ROUND-UP

Wild flower planting, an abundance of hardy perennial favourites and some beautifully structured trees were among the highlights of this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show, along with a number of tributes to mark the centenary of the start of World War One.

Star plants in many gardens included astrantias, lupins, anthriscus (cow parsley), irises and verbascums and shades of cream, white and a variety of mauves and blues dominated.

As Andy McIndoe, managing director of multi-award-winning Hillier nurseries and the rest of his staff celebrated Hillier's 150th anniversary at its amazing stand in the pavilion, he observed: "Everybody talks about trends at Chelsea, Chelsea will always be limited by what is performing at that moment. When I look at show gardens, I'm also thinking, 'What will this look like in the middle of winter or in autumn?'

"What we are seeing in the show gardens is a much better use of structure, less based on just lovely perennials and the light and airy. You are looking much more at the overall structure. We've seen some fantastic trees. The trained limes on the Telegraph garden are an absolute show-stopper."

Whether any of these elements would be easy to replicate at home is another matter.

"We're still seeing the knock-on effect from the inspiration of the Olympic meadows, the naturalistic garden - great but you have to think about maintenance and how it's going to work in your garden. People always think meadow planting is easy and low-maintenance - it isn't. You have to use the right things for your soil type and manage it or it doesn't work," he said.

Designers have made good use of space in this year's show gardens as well as depth of planting area, so there appears to be fewer planting areas but they are deeper.

"The big trend over the last few years at Chelsea has been better use of trees," said McIndoe. "Some of the plants we've seen a lot of this year are easy to grow - astrantias are dead easy, verbascums have to be well-drained. Don't plant anthriscus if you have rabbits - they go crazy for it."

Best Of The Bunch - Dicentra

These elegant perennials with fern-like foliage and heart-shaped flowers on arching stems make a great addition to the border, combining well with low-growing plants such as mossy saxifrages and hellebores, hostas and hardy geraniums. The smaller types can be grown with astilbes, foxgloves and taller campanulas. They are easy plants to grow, tolerating sun or shade and most soils, but do best in sheltered spots in partial shade and a moist soil. If you keep them out of the midday sun and in moist ground, the flowering period should last longer. Good varieties include D. spectabilis, a tall variety growing to 90cm (3ft) and producing arching sprays of pink flowers. More compact dicentras include 'Snowflakes', which grows to only 40-45cm (16-18in) and produces clusters of white flowers. Alternatively go for the more dramatic 'Bacchanal', the darkest red dicentra.

Good Enough To Eat - runner beans

It should be warm enough now to sow runner beans outdoors, provided no late frosts are forecast, or alternatively you can sow them indoors and then plant the seedlings out in June. They should be planted in a sunny spot in soil which has been given a good addition of compost or well-rotted manure the previous autumn and you can rake in a general purpose fertiliser two weeks before sowing or planting. I normally use a wigwam of poles with pea netting or string wrapped around for the plants to cling on to, planting a seed at the base of each. Tie in the plants loosely to the supports and they will climb naturally. Plant some sweet peas in the gaps to attract bees and help pollination of the beans. Hoe regularly, protect from slugs and water in dry weather once the pods have formed. Once the plants have reached the top of the wigwam remove the tips. The crop can be harvested once the pods have reached 15-20cm but before the beans inside have started to swell. If you remove the beans when they're young, you should prolong cropping.

What To Do This Week

:: Plant out summer bedding in borders and containers once all danger of frost has passed

:: Train wall climbers by tying new growth into trellis and supports

:: If you want extra large rose blooms, remove any buds developing at the side of the main terminal bloom on each shoot

:: Sow endive, swede, beetroot, carrots, kohl rabi, Chinese cabbage and cauliflower for a late harvest

:: Thin apple trees by picking off malformed, damaged or diseased fruits

:: Tie cordon tomatoes to thick stakes standing at least 90cm (3ft) tall and train them up as a single stem, removing side shoots

:: Treat early infestations of aphids such as greenfly with a soap-based spray

:: Top-up pond water levels as they fall in warmer weather

:: Dig out or spot-treat individual weeds from your lawn, such as dandelions

:: Feed grass with a high nitrogen lawn feed

:: Open greenhouse doors and vents each morning to keep temperatures down, but close them at night