Your most fragrant Hybrid tea...

Good morning Paul and welcome to the Rose Forum

 

Good morning Paul There are a number of very volatile components to Rose scents which must have the correct humidity and temperatures to volatilize properly so we can detect them. It's possible, but unlikely, that a nutrient deficiency might alter the components the flower produces, but it is significantly more likely the temperatures, humidity and air flow are the culprits. Too windy and the scents evaporate more quickly and blow away. Too dry and they evaporate too quickly. Too hot and they evaporate too quickly. Too cold and/or wet and they may not perceivably express themselves at all.
I think if you carefully examine all the variables, you'll find some other change between the smelliest time last year and what the conditions are right now when you can't perceive the scents as well as you remember smelling them

 

Good evening I have been researching the above question a little


The seven main rose scents are rose (or damask), nasturtium, orris (which is similar to violets), violets, apple, clove, and lemon (the fruit, not the blossoms). Orris is a compound used to fix or preserve odors. Then there are 26 other less common odors you may smell in roses. These include such diverse ones as honeysuckle, moss, hyacinth, honey, wine, marigold, peppers, parsley, and fruits such as raspberry.

Scent in roses, depending on which one, comes from one or more of over 300 chemical compounds. Yet in rose oil, only four make up less than one percent but produce over 90 percent of the fragrance.

If you think rose scent is getting complicated, consider how we smell. These chemicals evaporate and our nose receptors pick up the volatile compounds. Each of these evaporate at a different rate, which means that rose fragrance will change over time. For example, clove evaporates 36 times more slowly than citrus, so once you pick up a citrus scent it can disappear with the clove scent appearing later.

Scent not only changes over time, but with time of day. Early morning is when scents are strongest, the oils most powerful, and so when roses are harvested for rose oil. Rose scent may be more powerful with the first blooms of summer. Rose scent even can change from outdoors to indoors. Just the cutting can change the chemical releases that we smell, so a rose not very fragrant outdoors may be quite scented once in a vase inside.

The other fact to keep in mind is that scent in flowers, including roses, is not meant by nature for us but rather for the pollinators of the flowers. Scents in flowers are signals to those pollinators such as some bees to come visit the flowers, and are often smelled before they see the flowers. Flowers release scent when they are ready to be pollinated, which in roses often translates to a more powerful scent when flowers are half open.

In general, roses with the best scents are darker colors, have more petals, and have thick or velvety petals. Red and pink roses often smell like what we term “rose”. White and yellows often smell of violets, nasturtium, and lemon. Orange roses often smell of fruits, violets, nasturtium, and clove.

 

Good evening Paul well you don't have to agree my friend,I was just answering a question to the best of my ability with the practical and first hand knowledge I have gained over a lifetime with Roses,Gardening is all about different opinions and personal views,and many generalizations are made ans I did say in general

 

Good morning just thought I would add this.and it has happened to a lot of Roses

Around 2002 the “New” Iceberg rose was introduced, again from Kordes Roses of Germany by Tim Hermann Kordes. This version of the Iceberg rose was considered a florist’s rose and hybrid tea rose, but still a beautiful white rose. The fragrance on new Iceberg roses is considered to be mild when compared to the original.This could be another explanation as to why some roses seem to have less scent than another with the same name