Because of how well she performs in this climate, Grandmother's Hat, hands down. Excellent rose for my conditions, in every way. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Grandmother's Hat

I like Souvenir De La Malmaison, Loves the heat and performs well here.

My favorite rotates. Certainly GH is on the short list. One that pops up to the top on a regular basis is Rosa moschata, the single Musk Rose. Singles don't normally inspire me, but this enormous and tender shrub blooms continuously from midsummer until frost, ending out wave after wave of wafting sweetness.

Rosefolly

rosefolly, you're awakening a strong desire in me to acquire R. moschata. The idea of that wafting fragrance is really powerfully inspiring.

I don't have many truly fragrant roses in my hot garden which contains many teas, but Bishop's Castle has a lovely fragrance and of the teas my favorite is Duchesse de Brabant.

Ingrid

Not really an OGR, but my favorite "antique" rose for scent is Blanc Double de Coubert (a hybrid rugosa). The fragance is both sweet and peppery-spicy. I like to toss a few blossoms on my car dashboard; the scent lingers as they dry.

I grow so many fragrant roses... hard to pick a favorite, but Marchesa Boccella is at the top of the list.

Souvenir de la Malmaison & all her sports it's the kind of fragrance I love.

Im partial to the damask, portland, galaca and hybrid perpetual roses. Isn't funny that those are the roses I cant have? :(

today?
Sydonie !!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sydonie at HMF

Not funny at all, Jason. Just Human Nature. We always want what we can't have. When I worked on the coast, those who grew slime mold for lawns in the "Perma Fog" only wanted cactus. Those on the mountain tops where cactus flourished, only wanted tree ferns and orchids. Not funny, "perversely human"! LOL! Kim

How right you are Kim!

-Jason

Sally, what it completely ironic is Malmaison flourishes for you in humid Florida. In arid Valencia, 35 miles north of L.A., it and Souv. de St. Anne's are both mildew martyrs and the thrips ADORE them. There are dogs, grand kids and allergies; the roses mean something to their owners and there isn't anything to do to keep them healthy. Kim

Alas alack and double darn...
I was at vintage gardens a few years ago during Dirt Day when a bunch of volunteer helped weed, etc. when a woman brought Greg Lowery a gorgeous deep pink H.P. rosebush that she had found growing in California. I smelled that rose and could have died and be content.
It was THAT fragrant. But I forgot the name.
darn. darn. and double darn. It had a lovely shape of bloom as well and appeared to be quite healthy.
Glendora and Sydonie and every pink H.P. I've ever smelled has had that lovely Old Garden damask rose type scent to a lesser degree than Unknown Pink H.P..

Among the Noisettes:
"Nastarana" a rose which the old vintagegardens catalog mentioned that some think this is the most strongly scented rose in the world. I would say that when the entire plant is in bloom that is true for the scent wafts around the garden seducing all in its' pathway.

Other fragrant roses:

Tea roses are rarely strongly scented, but these are more than moderate in their degree of scent and have marvelous perfume.
Westside Road Cream Tea" just as fragrant as Ducher" but w.r.c.t is far healthier in my area.
Anna Oliver" richly fragrant of black tea and sun ripened apricots, with a hint of damask rose.
"Etoile de Lyon" described as "delicious" by some, to me it smells of honeysuckle and Chantilly cream.

Not strongly scented but I'd rather have one of these than a hundred dozen blooms of unscented florist H.T.s: Alba and Scotch Burnet roses that have such ethereal scents.
especially: Maidens Blush, The White Rose of York and Altaica.

Luxrosa.

Post scriptum: why do most folks who breed florist roses neglect to breed in the trait of scent?

"Post scriptum: why do most folks who breed florist roses neglect to breed in the trait of scent?"

That's an EASY one, Lux! Jack Harkness, in his wonderful book, Roses, explained that since fragrance is oil and alcohols, they heat up to produce and modify scent. They are produced (in many roses) in pores in the petals called petioles. As they express, they literally heat up, causing the petal surface to heat up. One of the by products is ethylene gas, which causes the tissues to decay.

One of the criteria for selecting florist and exhibition roses is the heavy petal substance which makes them more durable, so they can be handled and shipped, as well as held in storage longer. That heavy petal substance is waxy and seals the petioles. If there are oils and alcohols present, the substance seals them in, preventing the petal from being chemically active and the scent from expressing. Because of the substance, they withstand a lot more time and physical abuse than fragrant (read, lacking heavy petal substance) flowers will tolerate.

Yes, there are exceptions to all rules, but with our understanding of scent, how it is created, expressed and inherited, that was the explanation at that time. I've not read anything since altering his information about it. There are florist and exhibition roses which express fragrance. Traditionally, they don't last as long either cut or on the plant as unscented flowers do. Yes, Austin sells cut flower (or what he calls cut flower) varieties which are fragrant, but they, and the scented florist types, don't last as long as unscented ones do.

So, like tasteless apples in the supermarket, if you want long lasting, they won't smell, like the apples won't taste. Sugar ferments, causing fruit to rot. Fragrance breaks down into ethylene gas, one of the rotting agents for fruit and other produce, and the fragrance chemicals heat the petals, making them deteriorate faster. For a vase of flowers you paid for, would you prefer smell or vase life? Kim

I would prefer fragrance vs. vase life anyday.

I only have three OGRs. Reine des Violettes is the strongest with Rose de Rescht a close second while Honorine de Brabant's scent is sweet but much lighter.

My first rose rugosa 'Roseraie de L'Hay' is pretty up there in terms of fragrance. To walk by it when in peak bloom is almost too heady.

It's not too face powder sweet like 'Duchesse de Montebello' or more pure Damask scents with that peppery rugosa clove note to it, but man oh man does it smell good. Last year it was blooming around Mother's Day or so and my older cousins who are also garden nuts but do not grow old fashioned roses were like "Oh my god Max that rose", one even when they left that day one snapped off a blossom to take with her.

Five come to my mind: Zephirine Drouhin, Rose de Rescht, Mme. Ernest Calvat, Yolande d'Aragon, and Grandmother's Hat. They all have an extraordinary strong fragrance in my garden, some even waft, but of course I have no clue if they would thrive in your climate!

Christina

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams

Your yard is awesome!

-Jason

Today?

Louise Odier

Susan

Jason

Have you tried to grow any Bourbons? I'm in SW Florida and my Bourbons (Souv.dlMalmaison, Deuil de Dr. Reynaud, Mme. Isaac Periere) have a deep intoxicating fragrance. Followed by Belinda's Dream which is just a hair less strong.

Denise

I have not tried bourbons like Mme. Isaac because I have been told that I cant grow them because of black spot and I am aching to try Yolande d'Aragon.

-Jason

Post Scriptum:
If you look further down the OGR forum my wish list is under the post 'Disease resistance of Yolande d'Aragon'.

-Jason

Mme. Isaac is less leafy with a little blackspot, not a reason to dismiss her but DdDR and SdlM haven't had any (I don't spray).

I've never seen YdA in person, maybe that's a good thing :-)

The best fragrance in a rose of mine belongs to an unidentified once blooming rose from a farm in Indiana that has been in the same family for many generations. If I remember and learn how to post pictures, I'll post a picture the next time it blooms. The second best fragrance is from Madame Plantier. A number of roses mentioned above as fragrant I did not find so; Roserie de L'Hay, Zephrine Drouhin and Nastarana. It could be that difference in noses that we keep talking about or maybe I was sent the wrong rose. I do appreciate the scent of Souvenir de la Malmaison. It is just that the scent of the other two is more intense to me.

Cath

The best smelling rose in my garden in Louis Philippe. His Cherry candy fragrance literally makes my mouth water, and once he even wafted as I walked by. Yummy! I also have Rose de Rescht (still very young) which definitely is VERY fragrant and very much like Chrysler Imperial but different and not as strong to my nose. Clotilde Soupert has a pretty strong 'ladies perfume' fragrance - very nice. Hermosa has a sweet pepper fragrance and its pedicels are peppery, too. Mrs B R Cant is the strongest smelling Tea rose that I have experienced, a lovely raspberry fragrance with a little Tea scent thrown in. Duquesa in the spring was equally strong in a different way. I could not identify the fragrance, but it was still strong in the cut flower the next day. Of course, in the summer all bets are off for fragrance in my garden since it's too hot, but many of the Tea roses still have that fresh clean scent with a hint of Tea that I really like.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

That's like asking me what my favorite book is. There are too many. I have about three hundred varieties of roses and most of them are scented, and I like just about all of them, including R. foetida and kin. I appear to be one of the few who don't care much for the fragrance of 'Sombreuil', which has an element of Wichuriana green apple to it and to me for some reason smells a bit like plastic. But that's exceptional.
We're having a most unusual summer here, mild and with occasional rain, and the roses are continuing to bloom rather than going dormant as they usually do. 'Cornelia', which is not technically an old rose, of course, is spreading her sweet scent on the air. Whether this ability to waft comes from the Mulftiflora or the musk rose in the Hybrid Musks' ancestry is a matter of debate, but a lot of them have a wafting scent: 'Cornelia', 'Moonlight', 'Vanity', 'Felicia' all waft. 'Felicia' is exquisitely scented, one of the best: a mixture of old rose and wafting sweetness.
'Jaune Desprez' has been in bloom since spring and also wafts; in this case the credit goes to its musk rose ancestry. The Teas and Chinas are mostly fragrant, but they grow out in the sun and it's too dry for them to have much scent; ditto for the deep red Hybrid Teas with deep Damask fragrance, like 'Mr. Lincoln' and 'Cl. Etoile de Hollande', and a few Hybrid Perpetuals that this year are getting enough rain to rebloom. 'Spray Cecile Bruenner' keeps on flowering in the shade garden with a scent that's a mixture of sweet China and pepper: a lovely fragrance.
The flowering of the once-blooming old roses is now some months in the past and not present to my memory in any detail. I increasingly admire 'Centifolia', the only commonly found old rose in this area. Just about all the Centifolias, Damasks, Albas, Gallicas smell good. I have one old rose that came mislabeled that has perhaps the best scent of them all. This is a white rose with a Gallica habit, foliage, and flower style, and a very rich, not overly sweet scent: think whipped cream or twilled silk. My own guess is that this is 'Mme. Zoetmans' (which I also bought this spring, so in a year or two I should know for sure). The 'Mme. Plantier' growing by my front door in Washington had a similar fragrance, but they're the only two roses I know that smell like this, except possibly for 'Felicia'.
There are too many fragrant old and older roses to talk about--the Queen of Love and Beauty 'Mme. Boll'; the Fruehlings-roses, most or all of them hybrid Spinosissimas; the fruity and often penetrating fragrances that seem to have arisen from nineteenth century crosses of European and Asian roses.
Melissa

Felicia is really nice right now, while NOTHING else is!! such a sweet rose. and i don't have much a nose for scent!

Kim

Thank you kindly for your detailed explanation of why florist roses usually lack scent.
In answer to your question:
I would rather have a bouquet of roses that lasts 5 days in the vase and has fragrance, than a bouquet of roses that lacks scent but lasts for 10 days or more.

Where I live, China and Tea roses last 3-5 days in the vase
and fragrant H.P.s last 5-6 days. H.P.s have more substance but more fragrance, so I think there's an equation there somewhere.

I wish vintagegardens.com sold rose blossoms by mail,
.. to be able to buy a bouquet of Scotch Burnet roses or Alba roses in May would be divine. Even if they only sold bridal roses in June, perhaps there would be a market there especially if they contacted with an upmarket florist to pack and ship the roses. If David Austin can do this in England...

Lux.

Abraham Darby, without a doubt!

The two most strongly scented roses in my garden (both have what I can only call the "real old rose" scent) are a mystery bourbon that has been growing here for at least 70 years, and Cl Crimson Glory, which is not really an OGR, as it it a HT from 1925. Both of these roses stop people in their tracks as they walk by.

Kim, thanks for the explanation. I regard scentless roses about the same as tasteless apples, or tasteless tomatoes or peaches, or .... for that matter. That's why we grow our own tomatoes, and only eat the peaches off my mother-in-laws tree when the are ripe.

Jackie

Today?

Paul's Early Blush

"Kim, thanks for the explanation. I regard scentless roses about the same as tasteless apples, or tasteless tomatoes or peaches, or .... for that matter. That's why we grow our own tomatoes, and only eat the peaches off my mother-in-laws tree when the are ripe."

You're welcome, Jackie. Actually, that's appropriate. Both are selected for lacking traits many find desirable for the same reason: durability and shelf life. Stone fruit is regularly checked by the big growers for sugar levels. Micro sports, to our tastes, degenerative, are frequently selected for further propagation because they produce LESS sugar. Sugar is what makes the apple, pear, peach, etc., taste good. It's also what makes them spoil so quickly. Sugar ferments, creating the ethylene gas that ages or rots the fruit. By growing those sports which produce less sugar, the apples can be held for up to two years in nitrogen storage and be available for shipment year round to anyone who wants to buy them. The majors buy them by the ton and expect them to last on their tables for weeks before drying out. Apples from "organic growers" tend not to be those selected for long storage and tend to taste better as they contain more sugar.

When Gala, Braeburn and all were introduced into the supermarkets from the road side stand market, they tasted wonderful! No longer. There's been sufficient time for "development" to take place. Now, they have little more taste than the traditional "Delicious" varieties overflowing the store tables. If you buy a tree of Delicious, it will taste great. It's still the old version that makes a ton of sugar and tastes "Delicious". Store bought ones are little more (very often) than insipid, mealy rotted Styrofoam. The same is happening quickly with the Galas, Fujis, etc.

If you noticed in spring, Honey Crisp was available in many markets at significantly higher prices than the other varieties. They were also only available for a very short season, because they haven't been "selected" for shelf life and still contain sugar, tasting wonderful! Each year, you can find odd varieties in the super markets at higher prices than the others, and also for short seasons. That indicates they don't store long and won't be available year round as the others. They spoil too quickly due to the sugar.

If you go to Ramona, Tehachapi and the like where they're grown, the apples are wonderful! They aren't grown for the major supermarkets and they don't store well because they are REAL apples, full of sugar and flavor.

Florist and exhibition roses are virtually the same. You expect your intensely fragrant roses to only last a few days in the vase. You demand cut roses you've paid for to last longer. They are selected for vase life and production under the conditions which permit the grower to offer them as a reliable, year round product. They have to be scentless, or nearly so, to have them be as durable and withstand handling as the tasteless fruit.

We're lucky here as we have many Russian, Latin and other types of markets whose produce is really quite tasty and very often significantly less costly than Ralph's, Von's, etc. You have to eat it NOW rather than buying it and using it ten days later, but it tastes delicious and often costs up to half as much as the supermarket version in the same area.

So, when buying fruit, keep that in mind. When selecting roses, if the terms "heavy petal substance", "exhibition type" are used, avoid them as they are probably not going to have the scent you want. They SHOULD last well in water, like the Ralph's apples last in your refrigerator. Kim

Felicite Parmentier has an equisite fragrance. I also love the damask-scented hybrid tea climbers Crimson Glory and cl. Etoile de Hollande. Bourbon Mme Ernest Calvat is exceeding strong and wonderful. Hybrid Perpetual Mme Victor Verdier is rich and rosey. Many others, but these standout.

I cannot name Blush Noisette, but can I name Champney's Pink Cluster?