This is the time to be out all day and all night, revelling in the under- and overgrowth of gardens at their peak. Whether you are planning a sun-baked picnic with Pimms in hand or a balmy evening with the scent of roses and stocks stoking up the sensual fires, you just need to know where to go.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Cottesbrooke Hall and gardens in Northamptonshire is having its first PlantFinders Fair this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (July 27-29). It aims to rival Courson with an impressive list of nurseries including Chiltern Seeds and other highly respected names who do not normally exhibit at shows and fairs. Cottesbrooke’s gardens are by a host of stella landscapers including Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe and James Alexander-Sinclair.

2. The National Gardens Scheme open evening at Asthall Manor in Oxfordshire. This beautiful six-acre garden is bursting with roses, peonies, foxgloves, Philadelphus, Sweet Williams, Lady’s Mantle, angelica, lavender, rosemary, wildflower meadows and all the other mainstays of an English country garden. It also has the advantage of an outstanding setting in the Windrush valley and there are stone sculptures dotted throughout the garden which you can purchase should you have the odd £100,000 to spare.

3. Wisley is planning an open evening with music on August 19. It’s a chance to see this iconic garden with its new glasshouse in, literally, a different light.

4. Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire is hosting a Big Green Day out where every age group can learn about being as ecologically delicious as home grown raspberries.

5. Scunthorpe’s local park, Normanby Hall, is holding a local food festival and a fishing match on June 29. The walled Victorian kitchen garden is outstanding both in terms of the way it looks and what it grows.

6. The National Botanic Garden of Wales makes for a superb day out with its plant collections nestled into landscaping by the internationally-renowned designer Hal Moggridge. And on August 12, the garden is staging Shakespeare's Midsummer Night’s Dream.

7. Kew Gardens has its annual Summer Swing from July 8-12. Bring your own picnic and boogie among the bromeliads. And even if you don’t fancy dancing, you can always have a night-time wander - the lighting at Kew gives an entirely new perspective on the gardens.

8. Harlow Carr’s excellent event programme this year includes a world music festival from July 12-19 with a children’s music special on the final day. While you’re there, have a look at the Gardens Through Time show plots displaying seven historic gardens from Regency times today. They were part of the BBC2 Gardens Through Time series that I co-presented with Diarmuid Gavin.

9. Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is under new management. It has always been a magical place and this year’s offerings of Shakespeare and the like add another dimension to the park itself, especially the rose gardens and lake near the theatre.

10. Waddesdon Manor gardens are so beautifully maintained that whatever you feel about their high Victorian style they are well worth visiting - all the more so this year as they have vast 3D floral displays plus a children’s weekend of music, art, drama and dance on June 28-29. For teens and kids who don’t want to get involved, there is also a woodland playground.

Explore Gardens

• Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

• Chelsea Flower Show

Times recommends

• Here comes the glass sun – garden honours Beatle
• Gardening tips: 10 things to know about Horny Goat Weed or Epimedium
• Diarmuid Gavin shares tips on how make your garden fun and funky