Most of our best-loved flowering trees bloom in spring, leaving gardeners to rely on lower layers of planting to add colour through the summer months.

With its pastel sunsets, mist-shrouded mountains and flowering trees, it offers numerous pleasures for the eye.

While the most sought-after patterns have always been the traditional detailed designs with flowering trees, birds and butterflies, subtly updated versions are proving popular with young homeowners.

They dined outdoors by candlelight in courtyards perfumed by flowering trees, waited on by silent manservants until the cigarettes were lit and the first piano notes stole into the air.

Flowering trees are not confined to spring.