The alba, Felicite Parmentier or Rosa californica 'First Dawn'.

Hands down--Brother Cadfael. A scent to make you swoon! Gets to be a bit tall in my region. One of my favorites. Easy to grow on his own root. Practically thornless. I will never be without this rose. I adore him.

What happened to Double Delight? Used to be everyone's first or second choice for fragrance.

Several of my favorite fragrant hybrid teas are mentioned above: Perfume Delight, Pink Peace and Double Delight, Tiffany is another favorite. Until recently, Aloha, which has a very nice fragrance, was my favorite. The most pleasant scent I have experienced so far is Mme Ernest Calvat. Mme Isaac Pereire, Reine des Violettes and Zephirine Drouhin are all wonderfully fragrant.

my newest rose: Memorial Day, is my most fragrant at this time! It makes me swoon.

I have added a few roses to my garden since this thread first started. I would add Beverly, Fragrant Cloud, Eternal Flame, and Chrysler Imperial.

Purple Beauty (which is acutally pink) has a fragrance like Memorial Day. I love them both!

Carol

When I made the above list I was thinking pink roses as I thought that was what Patty was asking for. I agree DD is still one of the best roses for fragrance around. However, when we step outside of the pink range I would suggest Ebb Tide, Felicia, Augusta Luise, Blue Moon, Barbra Streisand, Papa Meilland, Firefighter, Jude the Obscure and Crimson Glory as best smelling roses to my nose. I can sniff any of these roses 24/7 without getting tired of their perfume.

Augusta Luis has a heavy fruity scent similar to Munstead Wood. A few sniff of both is enough for me. Felicia has a better quality scent, but not hardy in my zone 5a.

Barbra Streissand smelled great in a pot, but lost its scent in my heavy clay. Firefighter, Jude, and Crimson Glory are always fragrant regardless of temp.

Double Delight scent is strong, smells like lychee fruit. I prefer old garden rose scent without the fruit element of Firefighter. I can stick my nose in old garden scent 24/7, but fruit and old rose in Firefighter is too heavy to inhale 24/7. Below Double Delight scent is fruity lychee in my heavy clay.

Below bouquet has large JUde bloom, cluster of Crown Princess Mag behind, and cluster of Annie L. McDowell. I rank Kim Rupert (Roseseek) creation of Annie L. McDowell as the MOST WONDERFUL scent ever, just one cluster of Annie is enough to perfume my entire patio with musk and lilac scent. I find Annie's scent more powerful than Perfume Breeze.

Below is Augusta Luis bloom with Munstead Wood. Both scents are similar: mostly fruit with a touch of old rose:

Straw - my Augusta Luise fragrance is only old rose...it's heavenly! :)

Rouge Royale is by far my most highly scented rose, and I dearly love the scent. I have a bouquet right here in fact. And I've been picking RR all summer and fall for bouquets. Other well scented roses for me are Munstead Wood, Eglantyne, Evelyn, Brother Cadfael, Ebb Tide, and Augusta Luise. I've probably missed a few. Our air is so dry that I have to bring roses inside to really smell them. And everyone seems to mention Jude the Obscure's scent, which doesn't register with me at all. Diane

This is too overwhelming with an ever increasing want list. How many " best scent " can there be ? I give up.

I've had Jude, Evelyn, Reine des Violettes, Deuil de Dr Reynaud,

Rouge Royale is on order. There are just too many to try them all. I'm glad for everyone that has their favorite. I love the smell of puppies.

berrypiez6b I don't miss Rouge Royal's scent (It died last harsh winter when it got down to -20 F during Christmas 2022). Sonia Rykiel's scent is far better than Rouge Royal. I'm thrilled about Eustacia Vye scent, looks good in bouquet too (light pink below):

I'm also thrilled about Noble Antony's scent .. more exotic than Young Lycidas (better scent than Madame Isaac. Pererie). See below dark pink Noble Antony, bloom lasts long in the vase:

Sweet Juliet has an amazing lemon-rose scent, bought as own-root in 2023, I prefer Noble Antony's old garden rose scent over Sweet Juliet. Royal Jubilee's scent is OK, fruity similar to Crown Princess Magareta.

My list started with Frederic Mistral ten years ago, then Rouge Royale last year. I'm adding Young Lycidas to my list. I've grown this rose for quite a few years, but this fall was my first bouquet of YL brought inside. Oh, my, it is heavenly and the blooms lasted well, too. Diane

Munstead is my favorite all round rose and fragrance is one reason. Also Crimson Glory and Papa Meiland gave wonderful fragrance.

What about Strawberry Hill, does it have a fragrance?

Diane, your YL is beautiful, mine is putting out some flowers.

strawchicago and Diane you have a perfumery in the yard. It must be euphoric to be surrounded by some of the best smelling roses obtainable.

By this time of year I mostly forget what the roses smelled like, but I can remember the bad ones easily. In a sunny spot Madame Anisette smelled exactly like black licorice which I love. After being moved to a shadier spot, the scent was worse than my bug repellant. A little spider that sat between the petals must not have disliked it.

Carding Mill is one of the prettiest roses I have, but the scent is really odd an disappointing in my estimation. St Swithun's fragrance was so yucky I took out the rose for that reason alone, even though the blooms were very beautiful.

Earth Angel possibly had the best perfume of my roses, although at the time there was little left to compare it with in early October. The combination of the last bloom's extreme beauty and scent in contrast to the dying vegetation around it heightened the experience.

I have a collection of empty caramel swirl coffee bags by the computer to get me through Winter until the roses bloom again. I'm still looking for the best smelling rose - one like the red rose my mother had in 1950 that climbed up the chimney.

SoCalGardenNut I could NOT smell anything from Strawberry Hill at Cantigny Rose park during hot summer, but their Austin Eglantyne smelled like heaven in partial shade (that started my addiction to Austin roses).

I bought Eglantyne as own-root and mine was too wimpy to extract nutrients to smell as good as rose park's grafted. My Eglantyne smelled nice with a touch of ginger, but no where the intensity of rose park's. Below pink is Eglantyne, behind it is Frederic Mistral (lesser quality scent), and white is Bolero:

berrypiez6b Could Don Juan Climber be the climbing red rose that your Mom had? It was bred in 1958, and decade ago I smelled it at Walmart .. to my nose the scent was nicer than Crimson Glory which I grew.

My pet-peeve about Crimson Glory is: it smells nice on the bush, but gone once cut for the vase. Same with Neil Diamond. Below is Crimson Glory bouquet with orange Summer Samba, doesn't last long in the vase like Firefighter:

Below Firefighter is much stronger in scent and scent lasts forever, it's my favorite for the vase. Firefighter died 3 times on me as own-root, and after spending 1 hour digging a deep hole to cope with our tons of freezing rain, my 4th Firefighter survived our last zone 5a winter (coldest in a decade).

It was so cold in winter 2022 that potted roses in my unheated garage died. I would rather bury roses deep (where it's 32 F underground), than risk their dying in unheated garage at single digit temp. in my zone 5a. Below is Firefighter (fruity damask) with light pink Eglantyne, and dark pink Liv Tyler (weird mothball and sour apricot scent):

@strawchicago z5, I’m glad Firefighter is doing well in a vase, i like the deeper color and i will put it next to Eglantyne.

SoCalGardenNut Eglantyne is HUGE (5' x 3') at rose park as grafted-on-Dr.Huey. My own-root Eglantyne was only 1' x 1'.

Eustacie Vye is small as grafted (2' x 1.5'), and the scent is stronger & prettier bloom. Plus it blooms way more than Eglantyne. Below left pink is Eustacia Vye, upper left is Evelyn, and right pinks are Princess Charlene de Monaco.

strawchicago z5 my Mother's rose had smallish semi-double blooms as near as I can remember. Not flashy like all the new phenomenal roses. It may have been a now extinct sport of some rose that faded into obscurity. I can accept that the past can't be recovered, there are new horizons.

Haha Straw, not in my garden. I bunched Eglantyne, Ambridge, and La Reine into one hole, not even big hole and they all had blooms last year, Ambridge is the one blooms more frequently.

GardenNut: That's so efficient and clever to throw 3 roses into one hole !! Similar to David Austin's tip of 3 bushes together. I should use your trick for my one-cane-wonder roses after harsh zone 5a winter. I no longer dig one singular hole, I dig a rectangular bed since there's hard limestone below ... can't dig deep, so I have to dig wider.

My La Reine is mainly spring bloomer, plus a few scattered blooms later. Scent is medium to my nose, and NOT as powerful as Young Lycidas.

Below was my tiny Young Lycidas (grafted-on-Dr.Huey), the leaves were crinkled & similar to Sharifa Asma .. both were wimpy in my poor-drainage hard clay. I should had grown them in air-pot & fluffy potting soil. Young Lycidas is just as good as Sharifa Asma in scent.

Straw - mmmm...such wonderful blooms! I love your Noble Antony and Eustacia Vye!! I can never remember the name of the gorgeous yellow rose you grow...what is it? :) Your Liv Tyler fragrance sounds horrible. Oh my goodness...I love your last bouquet sooo much!!

Diane - WOWZA about your Young Lycidas...soooo beautiful!!

Kristine - I kept my Crimson Glory from last year. I hope it gets better so I can enjoy its wonderful perfume.

Berrypie - that must have been amazing...a rose growing up a chimney. :) :)

My best smelling roses from this year are Sweet Delight...always fragrant no matter the weather...blooms a lot...wonderful rose!!!:

Memorial Day, Pink Peace, Parade Day, Nicole Carol Miller, and Augusta Luise.

Straw - I love your La Reine blooms!

Carol, that is a gorgeous rose. At lesst, i have Memorial Day and Carole Nicole Miller coming.

My Eustancia Vye is still very small.

rosecanadian Thank you for reminding me of the beauty & scent of Nicole Carole Miller. I want it since my Lagerfeld is skinny like a toothpick and the bloom is double-petal.

If one put 10 Lagerfeld plants into one hole, it still looks anorexic!

The yellow rose that WOW me with its scent & beauty is Well-Being. Really small as own-root like 1.5' x 1.5', but it blooms constantly. Blooms get large in late fall, below pic. was taken Oct. 29, 2023, the ruffled blooms are Augusta Luis (6 blooms per cluster):

Below blooms are in hot summer above 90 F:

Below Well Being turns orangish when I put high phosphorus compost:

GardenNut - you will LOOOOVE Nicole Carol Miller!!! and also Memorial Day. :) :) Your Eustacia is also very small? Mine is about 6 inches with 2 tiny canes.

Straw - I agree...I decided to toss my Lagerfeld...tall, skinny, meh. NCM is a fabulous rose...you would love it!! :) I love the different colors of your Well Being. :) It looks like a good bloomer.

Too many beautiful roses, too litke space, lol.

Otto and Sons states Carole Nicole Miller is heat tolerant, i wonder if i can put this rose in my very sunny bed.

Carol, I believe that Crimson Glory takes s few yesrs to mature but it is sure worth the wait. I really need NCM. What a special rose.

SoCal, I shovel prune a lot of roses but have never even come close to getting rid of Memorial Day. yes, it is that good.

Most of my roses are fragrant so it's hard to pick a favorite. Their favorites in different ways. Straw, how is the hardiness of your Any Laurie McDowell

I have to agree with you, Straw, about the fragrance of Annie Laurie McDowell . I have six of them along my garden fence and even in my super dry climate, the smell wafts all over. It’s a very sweet, almost violet sort of scent maybe? I’m not good at explaining rose scents like you are, but it is amazing.

I killed my ALM, it’s tiny and then i moved it and that’s the end of it. I’m not ordering this rose again.

hard to like that socal

It has happened to all of us, SoCalGardenNut.

The bunnies helped me to kill ALM. My first Annie survived 2 winters, my 2nd Annie survived 3 winters ... until the bunnies devoured it down to 4 inch. So I moved it and killed it just like SoCalGardenNut.

Annie recuperated nicely in below air-pot after being eaten down to 4 inch, but it didn't survive my zone 5a winter when I moved it to a raised bed. Last 2022 winter was brutal at -20 F below zero during Christmas, then heavy freezing rain in spring that killed a lot of roses in poor drainage clay.

May I ask how big she got for you and did she die back after each winter?

She died back to about 1/2 foot after a harsh winter. Annie preferred FLUFFY soil (potting soil) and didn't like my heavy clay. Below pic. showing the maximum size of Annie (less than 1 foot, but spreading wide) in my zone 5a garden, Annie is in the front, and Marie Pavie is in the back. If I'm in a warm zone, I would grow Annie in an air-pot. I would still grow Annie again, in a tall air-pot, and store inside the garage through the winter. Bunnies like to eat Annie since it's thornless & smells wonderful.

Blooms last long in the vase, and it smells like musk/old rose and lilacs. One time I ate a banana and all I could smell was Annie, I had to move the vase elsewhere to enjoy my banana.

GardenNut - I'm not sure. :) :) I guess you could try and then move it if it doesn't like too much sun.

Kristine - thanks! I'll give it more time...people seem to really love this rose. :) :)

Straw - Annie sure is a beauty for you!! In your picture, what is the red rose around 11 o'clock?

judijunebugarizonazn8 Your pics. of Annie are inspiring !! It makes me want to try Annie the 3rd time .. when I moved 4th-year-own-root Annie to an air-pot, the root was big and woody & chunky (like Dr.Huey-rootstock). Last winter 2022 was too cold in my zone 5a plus tons of freezing rain that drowned drought-tolerant roses.

rosecanadian The red rose-bush in above pic. is own-root Mirandy. It got big & full of thorns and my daughter asked me to kill it. I have my regrets of killing Mirandy, the scent is way better than Munstead Wood, but I cannot stand its blackish-red in the vase. Below is Mirandy, the scent is pure heaven:

Judi - that's beautiful!! You did really well in growing ALM!! Wish I could smell the blooms.

Straw - yup, if you can't stand the color, then it had to go. :) :)

n I nd Anni!

I have to put a vote in for Forget-Me-Not (Dee-Lish). I cut a bloom (the second on my new plant), and carried the vase around with me for days. The bush itself is impressing me. It's sending out at least half a dozen new canes.

Mme Isaac Pereire had a wonderful scent, but so diseased here. I also loved Abe's scent, but also pretty diseased here. And Felicia is another whose scent I loved.

Kristine, I'm looking forward to smelling Munstead when it blooms again. It was too low to the ground with its first cycle for me to get to it. I should have cut one.

Felicia is too tender for my zone 5a winter, but I miss its fabulous scent (similar to Leander). Agree with Dee-lish, it has strawberry-guave-rose scent in my black gumbo clay. I like it so much I have 2: one in full sun, the other in 4 hours of morning sun, and they bloom equally well:

Dee-lish can last 5 days in the vase if picked in buds (after the green sepals turn down):

I wonder why my two DeeLish's fragrance was like sage/grass or whatever it smelled like. Terrible.

Straw - amazing Dee-Lish bushes...what GREAT bloomers!!

rosecanadian Grafted-roses can alter the scent of certain roses. Own-root Pink Peace is healthy & smell sweet like buttercream frosting, but grafted-Pink-Peace (on Dr.Huey) has a light scent and a blackspot fest (Dr. Huey produces too much acid).

Below is own-root Pink Peace bloom (has more petals) than grafted Pink Peace. It's a unique buttercream frosting scent, YUM. Below dark-pink is Pink Peace, and reds are Firefighter, salmon-pinks are Liv Tyler.

Below is own-root Pink Peace: small & healthy and constant bloomer:

Straw - on multiflora rootstock, Pink Peace smells like Fruit Loops. lol Oh, my...your Pink Peace is much smaller (and cuter) than mine...what a beauty!!!