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Your most fragrant rose

Sorry if this has been done a ton before but I'm curious what your most fragrant rose is in your garden. Tags that read fragrant or highly fragrant at times read medium fragrant to me and I love a fragrant rose so I'd love some personal insight.

Comments (79)

  • 5 years ago

    Thanks Vaporvac, but the link just goes to the HMF home page?

    My Kazanlik is just starting to open blooms and it is definitely one of my most powerfully fragrant roses.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Anyone else having problems copying Houzz Urls?

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Regarding Bolero,

    Bolero from Roses Unlimited ... I grew in 2011:



    Recently, I had a bed of 12 Boleros that were a mixture of plants from Regan and A.R.E. . Those plants were uniform and the blooms looked like this:



    I no longer have the purchase invoice from Roses Unlimited for the rose at the top, however according to R.U.'s handbook, they sell the Romantica (1997/1998 Bolero) and the 2004 Floribunda... FWIW

    Edited to add: I just heard from Pat Henry... they sell the Romantica

    According to HMF, the Romantica Meilland 1997 is Zone 7 & up versus the Meilland 2004 Hybrid Tea, is rated 5b and up...

    The Romantica is described as having 100+ petals (see the 1st image) versus the 2004 with 41+ petals...

    I ordered Bolero from R.U. and should receive it soon... I am curious regarding which of the two roses will reveal itself... should be the 1997... first image...

  • 5 years ago

    Thanks Vaporvac and Lynn!

  • 5 years ago

    suebelle_neworleans How does Chandos Beauty do in terms of repeat and disease resistance for you?

  • 5 years ago

    Jude the Obscure is my #1 most fragrant. It smells like fresh cut lemons! I spend so much time sniffing this one…I feel a little like a rose junkie. 😂 I was sent Jude accidentally as a mislabel. What a happy accident.


    Oklahoma. My very favorite rose and one that I have grudgingly decided to stop trying to grow in my zone 5. Well, I’ll grow it as an annual. Such an intense damask/fruity fragrance. The most perfect scent, in my opinion.


    Duke of Edinburgh. I was so surprised by this one. Smells very much like Oklahoma with more raspberry in its fragrance. New to me this year.


  • 5 years ago

    "Most fragrant rose"? One rose? I may actually have an answer to this: for me it's 'Cl. Etoile de Hollande', a once-blooming HT climber, one of the dark reds with heavy fragrance. I've had to remove this from the table while eating as the scent was so strong. Really good wafters include 'Cornelia', R. moschata, 'Spray Cecile Bruenner' (this surprised me), 'Mme. Plantier' (I have this in my garden, but the wafting memories come from the big plant that grew by my front door when I lived in Washington state), 'Felicia' (musk and old rose). Of the once-blooming old roses of european origin, there are too many to name. Oh, one more: 'Mme. Alfred Carriere', an admirable rose in pretty much every way, and whose fragrance is particularly noticeable when it's cut for a bouquet, when it can be smelled down the hall from the rooom where the flowers are located.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I like Felicia scent more than Cornelia, and Felicia lasts forever on the bush. Really like Felicia as a young rooting bought from LongAgoRoses June 11. Leaves got yellow from week-long rain. I already moved it to a faster drainage pot with more perlite mixed it. Pic. taken July 9:


  • 5 years ago

    How did I miss this thread? :) :)


    Wonderful, wonderful pictures and such good information!!


    I'm finding it hard to remember which roses are my favorite for fragrance (most roses aren't blooming)...but I'm thinking Memorial Day, Parade Day (intense sharp fragrance), and Chandos Beauty (quality of the fragrance is wonderful).

  • 5 years ago

    'Crimson Glory' was on the property when I moved in, such a nice welcome. Very headily scented of damask Old Rose.

    Compte de Chambord is the name I knew it by, now I have 3 of them and am planning a short hedge of it, to thrill my neighbors bees. FFFFF out of 5.

    Alba Semi-Plena; syn. White Rose of York, is my favorite rose of all, and has my favorite type of rose scent, no rebloom but a rose that has everything else; blue-green leaves, white blooms with a golden boss of pollen,, and flagon shaped hips in the autumn.

    R. moschata plena lovely scent and a very long bloom season that lasts all summer and into the autumn, where I live near S.F. Ca.

    Westside Road Cream Tea, very fragrant and very floriferous over an exceedingly long bloom season, being a true Tea rose. I'm bringing a bouquet to the office next week of W.R.C.T. with a few Mermaid mixed in for color.


    Modern Roses;

    Lyda Rose

    Mermaid

    Lemon Spice

    Love, Lux.



  • 5 years ago

    LOLl - to thrill your neighbor's bees. :) :) He has a hive?

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I love reading these threads on "most fragrant roses." For me the decision seems impossible, since there are so many ways of thinking about the term ”strong”. Some roses are very strong but not in a pleasant way (Glamis Castle, Wollerton Old Hall). Some are extremely fragrant, but only at certain times of the day or in certain weather since it is so dry here that there is no moisture to carry fragrance (Abraham Darby, Munstead Wood, Bolero). Some have lovely fragrance but are not as strong (Huntington Rose). Some have fragrance that carries for some distance, but up close, they don't smell much stronger or about the same as at a distance (Marie Pavie). Some roses don’t smell that strong as an individual flower, but when the bush is in bloom, there are so many flowers that it perfumes the air around, so the effect is that it is strongly fragrant. Some roses have an extremely strong fragrance in a single bloom but they never produce more than a couple flowers at a time. Some are extremely fragrant, but only when I get my nose into the blossom (Mr. Lincoln, Boscobel, Dee-lish). I've been thinking about this thread for a while now, walking around my garden, deciding. For strong fragrance, consistently fragrant at all times of the day, and at all ages of the flower, in all kinds of weather, and with the most delicious balance of elements, it's actually a pretty easy choice for me. Scentuous. A very close second, and possibly a tie, is Desdemona. But Desdemona has moments (time of day? weather?) where the fragrance is not *quite* as delicious. And tied for third place is Radio Times, which is not quite as consistent, and Bishop's Castle, which is not quite as delicious a fragrance. Third place is no slacker fragrance though. When Radio Times is "on" it is blow-your-mind wondrously fragrant to me, but not always. And Bishop's Castle wafts across the garden like nobody's business. And if Jude would grow/bloom in my garden I might choose him for strong fruity deliciousness, but since he is not happy in my garden, he is off the list. He also doesn‘t waft like Scentuous does. So Scentuous it is. But for the reasons listed above, I couldn’t say ”the strongest”.

  • 5 years ago

    Noseometer: Best review ever, very precise. Thank you.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Well, looks like I'll have to buy more roses .

    There's a big advantage to have roses that waft their scent so I don't get surprised inhaling a bee or spider at work .

  • 5 years ago

    Good point, berrypie!

  • 5 years ago

    Somehow I forgot to mention Alnwick Castle, whose strong raspberry fragrance wafts quite a bit, even from a single bloom. Sometimes the fragrance is woody and sometimes it is clear raspberry. I can usually smell a single bloom from a couple yards away on a still day. But it doesn't have much fragrance on a hot dry afternoon, which is most afternoons here. I don't know where to rank this fragrance though. It's more of a novelty fragrance, so it's hard to classify, but I do find myself nose-dipping this rose multiple times a day.

  • 5 years ago

    noseometer....so funny, because I tried to smell Anlwick Castle in our damp cool last summer and got nothing....this year we had warm weather leading up to the 115f record and I walked by Anlwick and the scent was amazing!!! The problem is that we haven't had that warm weather since, so I am guessing that it has a temp. and humidy range for it to waft. Right now I can't even get a scent on a 60f morning. Jude however is fragrant if I put my nose close even in the cool.

  • 5 years ago

    I hope my Jude improves. I really want mine to be a fabulous rose...not so far though. :)

  • 5 years ago

    My Jude's are both potted, and I was accidentally watering with Ph10-11 water, which has caused all sorts of problems, but they are good shaped and always have at least 1 bloom on 2 year plants...I would keep them for the scent, but they look nice too.

  • 5 years ago

    LOL I was using much too acidic fert. Sheesh...I never knew before this how important pH is. I hope both of our Judes do better. :) :)

  • 5 years ago

    Me neither!!! But in 2 weeks Jude has put on some new greener leaves and 2 blooms. I found red volcanic rock and that should even help with a stronger scent (If I read the other thread right.)

  • 5 years ago

    Excellent!! :) :) Mine is still not doing much.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Got all my favorite scents in a vase yesterday, I have 2 Japanese Beetle traps set FAR AWAY from roses & works well for the past 7 years. Comte de chambord (pink in middle) is the best scent among my 140+ own-roots. Orange bud About Face has a strong nectarine scent (not as good as golden celebration on left). Upper white/light yellow is Tchaikosky (sweet candy scent). Upper dark red is Dee-lish (strawberry-guava) if fertilized with pea-gravel. Dark red Munstead Wood is always strong fruity. Munstead Wood barely had a scent when it was near a tree, I moved it and the scent improves with better soil & plus I mixed 2 cups of pea-gravel in its planting hole. Pic. taken yesterday July 21:


    Below bouquet was from previous year: Middle purple W.S. 2000 is another best scent: violets and rose. Right lower pink Radio Times is very sweet Damask, but not as good as upper pinks Comte de Chambord. Upper peachy is Evelyn (from a cluster so bloom is small). Lowest purple is Wise Portia, amazing scent only in cold weather, very much like Twilight Zone (only strong in cold & rainy):


  • 5 years ago

    Straw - oh my WORD!!! Your last picture is unbelievably STUNNING!!!!! I love the effect of your roses against the blue sheet. Every single rose is exquisite!!! My fave is your WS2000!!!!


    I finally have a lemon fragrance...Charles Darwin...which hasn't been fragrant before...I've either had it for 2 or 3 years, I think. Maybe it has better fragrance because of the langbeinite I've been giving it??

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Leys perpetrual, smells apricot, surprisingly all around good.

  • 5 years ago

    I will second Crimson Glory, and add Eugene de Beaharnais - in my garden both have a very strong "old rose" scent. One of my plants of EdB is right next to the sidewalk, and I see people stopping to smell it as they pick up the scent while walking by (sometimes even when staring at their phones - "stop and smell the roses"!


    My CG is from a plant we think was planted in the 1930s, and our EdB was growing in our garden when we moved in - in a place where it had obviously been for many decades.

    Jackie







  • 5 years ago

    Jackie - those are such pretty reds!! :) :)

  • 5 years ago

    Yes, I like the reds which have some blue in them, rather than the ones with an orange influence - just my preference.


    Jackie

  • 5 years ago

    I went to a neighbor's home today and she has a small arrangement of just 3 roses in a glass, and I could smell them from the next room, a scent just like apricot. She told me the rose was called "Marilyn Monroe".

  • 5 years ago

    Marilyn Monroe is a thorny girl. I have her offspring Falling in Love. :) I didn't know that MM is fragrant. Mmmmmm :)


    Jackie - me too!

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Agree, saw Marilyn Monroe at rose park with thick & scary thorns. Didn't smell anything from MM with rose park's loamy soil. Betty White is the most fragrant at Chicago Botanical Garden out of their 5,000 roses, and also very fragrant in my garden. One drawback of Betty White, its scent is similar to Japanese Beetle's trap, so it's a JB-magnet. But I always pick the blooms before JB get to it. Betty White is pinkish with acidic rain:


    Upper pink is Savannah, and lower pink is Betty White. Betty White beat Savannah with its strong scent:


    Betty White is worth growing for its healthy & glossy foliage as 7th-year-own-root:


  • 5 years ago

    @strawchicago z5 I smelled the rose out in their garden first and was not impressed by the scent, but cut inside the house it seemed much stronger.

  • 5 years ago

    I used to have Betty White...but I gave it away because the blooms always had thrips damage...and I couldn't stand that. I especially love your BW with the acidic rain color!!!! Oh my!!! And your first picture is scrumptious!!!

  • 5 years ago

    Wow....those pictures make her temping even without the scent...she's going on my list!!! She seems hard to find...maybe next year, I'll see her.

  • 5 years ago

    ann: If you have room for a LARGE BUSH, own-root Savannah is always healthy as Kordes roses. The scent is just as good as Betty White, but Savannah occupies 6 times more room than Betty White as own-root. Savannah's scent is pure heaven (better than Felicia), and I can stick my nose in its bloom 24/7.

    Below pic. was 1st-year own-root, now as 4th-year-own-root it's 4' x 3' wide in my zone 5.

    Below bouquet with Savannah on the left. Large dark pink is Peter Mayle (eucalyptus and rose scent), red is The Dark Laly, and 2 whites are Bolero. I consider Savannah's scent to be better in quality than Bolero. But Bolero's scent carries far away with its many blooms.


  • 5 years ago

    Every nose smells its own rose.


  • 5 years ago

    hugogurll - so well put!!


    Straw - Peter Mayle's blooms are so recognizable!! :) :) Such a lovely bouquet!!

  • 5 years ago

    I got a new rose from Palatine this spring called Crazy Fashion. It has very intense fragrance, with an interesting smell of lycee. I would say the intensity of fragrance is on par with Augusta Luise, PCoM and Deelish.

    It is one of the very few strip roses I have.





  • 5 years ago

    It is also very healthy so far.





  • 5 years ago

    Finally a bush view.


  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Gorgeous Crazy Fashion !! I love the healthy bush shot. Thank you, Rose Lai for the info. of those strong scents: Crazy Fashion, Augusta Louis, PcdM, and Dee-lish. I like Princess Charlene de Monaco's scent of pear nectar over Dee-lish. Both are super-healthy bushes, never see fungal diseases on them. Below is PcdM when it was 1st-year own-root, now as 4th-year-own-root it's taller than me.


  • 5 years ago

    Hi Straw: yes I agree PcdM is super healthy and wonderfully fragrant, and also super tall in California! Yours is amazingly beauitful. I have to aggressively prune it after each flush to keep it at 5 - 6 feet tall. Otherwise it will reach the sky.

  • 5 years ago

    Rose Lai - Ohhhhhhhhh!!!! Crazy Fashion is one of a few roses of mine that isn't recovering all that well from the damage I did to them...and yours is G O R G E O U S ! ! ! !

    I am so impressed with how yours is doing!!! If mine dies, I'm going to get another one for sure!!! I think that is the prettiest striped rose I've seen!!! And, you say that the fragrance is top notch!!! Oh, whyyyy did I ruin mine?


    Straw - Your PCdM is beautiful!!! Mmmmmm :) :)


  • 5 years ago

    Carol, did your Chartreuse de Parme ever bounce back?

  • 5 years ago

    Oursteelers - well, not really. It still has one cane and two nice leaves and maybe 8 crappy leaves. Although it has grown a bud...go figure. Thanks for asking. :) :)

  • 5 years ago

    Hi Carol, thank you for the kind words. Your Crazy Fashion may still improve. Roses are resilient!

    Mine arrived from Palatine in March this year in not the best shape - 2 canes were black, and I cut them off before planting into the ground. Somehow it started to improve and blooms beautifully. I hope yours will get better soon.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Duchess de Rohan and Yolande d' Aargon both get my vote as the most powerful and intoxicating old rose scent, beating any modern or Austin roses. That's from my 150+ fragrant own-root roses.

    I'm having a few Duchess de Rohan (dark pink) in a vase, and it perfumes both the kitchen and my family room, I can smell the scent 20 feet away. Scent is way more powerful than Evelyn (upper large bloom). Duchess wafts farther away than Comte de Chambord. La Reine's scent is one-tenth of Duchess, same with Paul Neyron and Madame Isaac Pereire.

    Zeph. Drouhin can compete with Duchess in wafting ability, but not in intensity.


    Below Yolande d'Aargon lasts twice longer in the vase than Duchess de Rohan, plus the scent is so powerful that it lingers on my face for 15 min. after sniffing, so refreshing.

    Duchess has the strong and wafting scent, versus Yolande is pure heaven on one's face.

    1st-year-own-root Yolande has fast repeat, now on its 2nd flush after I pruned it. When it was young as own-root, Duchess repeated in late fall with tons of rain and sulfate of potash.

    As it gets older (8th-year), Duchess doesn't repeat but suckers more. Below is my 1st bloom of Yolande d'Aargon from Roses Unlimited: it knocked me over with its powerful old rose scent.


  • 4 years ago

    I would say on top of my mind, it is double delight for me. However, I have noticed in the last few years that one of my roses, most likely an austin have a strong "jasmine tea fragrance". I have no idea which one because all my austins usually bloomed together at the same time. I will see if I can smell it again but for a person with seasonal allergy, it can be a challenge.

  • 4 years ago

    Anastasia! First experience I had with this rose was last summer, but I was blown away with the fragrance!


  • 4 years ago

    Straw - I'm mesmerized by your fragrance descriptions and pictures. :) :)


    Lala - really!! I can't wait for mine to bloom!