Most Fragrant Rose?

Hello Scotkat. There are lots of threads in this forum of my roses but my favourites are Oranges & Lemons (my current Avatar) and Sunseeker (an 18" patio rose which after years in a planter I put in the ground and has become a 6 foot climber but still retaining it's tiny flowers and leaves) ...





I thought I had lost my Rosa Bambino, an itsy-bitsy patio rose with up to 60 flowers per stem although the plant is minute but I think it has recovered itself (well, I hope so) ... sadly it has no scent whereas O&L and Sunseeker are heady ...

 

Hi there Redstar

David Austin's US catalogue has a list of roses which will cope with hard winters:-

http://www.davidaustinroses.com/american/Advanced.asp?PageId=2063

 

I have the latest Peter Beales rose catalogue

rose fragrance is rated from 0 to 10 ... had a quick browse ... several have ratings of 9 and only a few have 10/10 (I have only seen 3 that are rated at 10)

the ones that are rated as 10 are:
Papa Meilland


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Anna Pavlova:


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and a climbing rose called Aloha:

 

and, there are a few that I have never seen before, and that I like (not necessarily for fragrance)

Blue Moon:


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Sexy rexy:


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Nostalgia:



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Hanky Panky:


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scenti-mental:

 

ooooh Dim, it's Anna Pavlova for me. Roses are so photogenic aren't they....
Thanks for the wander though....

 

The problem I have, *dim*, is that we all perceive scent slightly differently. So it's quite difficult to put roses on a complicated scale of smell, although it's easy enough to say some are scented and some are not! Often I find I'm at odds with nursery definitions. And I have a pretty good sense of smell - compensation for my appalling eyesight, perhaps. The only sure fire way of picking a strongly scented rose is to go to the nursery when it is in bloom and do the sniff test yourself! Even then it isn't foolproof, since roses need still air and sunshine to give their best. Dull days don't really tell you anything.

Last year I planted a fairly old David Austin rose, 'Perdita'. It has won medals for fragrance. The literature describes it as strongly scented. I can't smell anything at all. Not even a little waft.

Here are a few I have grown and can vouch for (although, who knows? Others may find them wanting).

Mme Honorine de Brabant. A wonderful old bourbon shrub rose with striped petals (dark pink on a light pink base). Wonderful to look at and with a powerful smell. Reminds me of ripe raspberries. Grows large and needs space.

Mme Alfred Carriere. Rampant white climber with a very strong scent. Not for small gardens unless you want to spend your life chopping it about. At Sissinghurst a single specimen fills the whole of the front of a cottage.

Ena Harkness. Lovely, rich old rose smell. Like old fashioned face cream. There are bush and climbing versions.

Margaret Merrill. Well behaved white floribunda which is unbeatable for smell, in my opinion. Petals a bit sparse and the flowers eventually open fully, like dog roses. Wouldn't be without this one, however.

Evelyn. One of the early David Austin roses. Gawky habit, large apricot pink flowers, strong scent.

Alba Semi-Plena - white rose of York. A large, very old rose dating from the Middle Ages. Beautiful grey-green foliage which never gets diseased. Lovely white, strongly scented flowers - but only for a few weeks. As with many very old roses, not repeat flowering.

Wellbeing. A modern Harkness shrub rose which is a vivid peachy yellow. Smelt nice in the pot last year when I bought it. Waiting for the first flowers to open this season!

St Cecilia. A clear, shell pink David Austin rose. Gorgeous 'cold cream' smell'.

Buff Beauty. Large hybrid musk. Clusters of apricot-buff flowers. Scent carries well on the air.

 

What superb descriptions you have given them all, thank you Clare.
Only have Buff Beauty, her 2nd year - north east facing sadly so problably not the best place for ultimate performance but that's the only place there was to plant her - by the front door But I will be able to sniff her as I go in and out. She's on a mission to sweep right across the front window and annoy the window cleaner!!

 

Thanks Clare ... very good post

I have the same problem when it comes to smell .... many say clematis Armandii smells good ... I don't smell anything .... some say Choisya smells good ... I don't smell anything ... I can give loads more examples

so, I plant what smells good to me, but sometimes with something new, (like with the roses), I have to rely on what experts and others advise, hence the reason of me posting this thread asking .... if it smells good for many, then it is a good enough reason to plant, as I am not planting in my own garden, it's for clients

I ended up buying 8 Gertrude jekkyl (which gets a 9/10 in the David Beale's catalogue),

and I planted 5 Molineux roses in a bed that has less sun .... these only get a rating of 7/10 in the catalogue, however I chose these as they do well in less sun and are a featured rose in the David Austin catalogue .... the garden's predominant colour scheme is red and yellow, so the molineux roses ticked all the right boxes

both of the roses I chose are repeat flowering aswell

according to the new David Beales rose catalogue, the roses that you mentioned in your post are rated at:

Perdita ... 9/10

Mme Honorine de Brabant ... 6/10

Mme Alfred Carriere..... 8/10

Ena Harkness..... 9/10

Margaret Merrill.... 8/10

Evelyn ... 8/10

Alba Semi-Plena - white rose of York .... 7/10

Wellbeing ... (not in the catalogue)

St Cecilia ... (not in the catalogue)

Buff Beauty .... 5/10

 

My window cleaner moans all the time, Jenny! Also, a delivery man once claimed that Gloire de Dijon 'nearly had his eye out'. A bit of an exaggeration, methinks. A single stem had pinged out of place in the summer breeze. I'm afraid the thought of that baleful eyeball dangling from a rose stem brought out the worst in me. 'Only nearly?' I said. 'I hope the rose has better luck next time.' Delivery man spent the rest of the day telling my neighbours all about the horrible witch who lived over the road. I think it was the most fun he'd had in ages.

Buff Beauty is wonderful, Jenny. In the gardens of Penshurst Place they have room for generous sweeps of it, along with other hybrid musks. The perfume is terrific.

 

Yes, Dim, pity the poor gardener who has to choose scented plants for his employers! Interesting that Perdita has 9/10. It definitely doesn't do it for me. Broadly, I'd agree with the rest - although the quality of the smell is also important and Mme Honorine de Brabant smells very expensive! Also, it produces lots of flowers. One flower, however smelly it is, won't scent a garden.

I have the same problem with Clematis armandii. I have a feeling there are variations amongst its various forms. I have a white one which, to me, doesn't smell at all. I've been told that the scent is stronger at night, so maybe I haven't been out at the right time. I have a honeysuckle which is scentless by day and doesn't really get into its stride until late evening, when the moths are about.

 

here is a link to the 'Rose Hall of Fame'

14 roses that are the most desireable worldwide:

http://www.worldrose.org/awards/hof/hof.asp

 

Thats interesting, *dim*. 'Peace' is a large, cabbagey rose which sold very well when it first came out, probably because of its name. I believe it came on the market just after the end of WW2. Clever marketing! My parents grew the climbing form. It covered the front of our house. It was usually infested with every pest and disease going, and no one fancied climbing a ladder to tend it on a regular basis. Not my favourite, but despite being a martyr to pests it is certainly sturdy.

'Pascali' has no scent at all, so this is obviously not a priority for many people. It's a parent of the very scented 'Margaret Merrill', I believe. 'Iceberg' doesn't have a hint of scent either. I always think of it as the 'Golden Delicious' of the rose world. Reliable performer, but utterly bland.

'Queen Elizabeth' is another rose which reminds me of grandparents' and parents' gardens. It grows tall and leggy, and its legs are thick and ugly - not much of a tribute to Her Madge. It is impossible to keep it from looking gawky. I'm surprised it's still a favourite when we have so many plants that are much better. In my childhood it was usually planted in serried ranks with an underplanting of scraggy spring bulbs and neglected perennials. 'Queen Elizabeth of Glamis' has a similar vintage. I seem to remember that it actually has a scent. In those days, rose breeders didn't seem to think it was important.

I wonder how this 'Hall of Fame' was compiled? I'd say the entries are a bit dated on the whole. 'Graham Thomas' is a nice rose, however. And 'Double Delight' is a favourite of Woo's.

 

As far as fragrant roses go, Hans' post has reminded me that nothing much beats Mme Isaac Pereire's powerful scent. She's large, brash, blowsy and delicious.