I have two climbing America roses and I asked the lady at the nursery where I bought them the same question that you ask because I couldn't detect any fragrance from them at the nursery. She told me that for certain roses, it depends on the time of the day their fragrances might be stronger or none at all. I thought she just tried to sell the roses but she is right. I can detect their fragrance now. Good luck with yours.

I definitely agree with you about Tropicana- I get NO scent at all from it.

Do you grow Oklahoma? When mine is blooming, I feel like I could stand and sniff it ALL DAY!

I can smell nothing from Oklahoma! Although there are many roses that had no smell at all until their 3rd or 4th years - then wow!!

These are ones that had no smell, but now have great fragrance:

- Memorial Day - my goodness this is fragrant!!
- Betty White - wow!
- Double Delight
- Elle

These have no fragrance - so I'm hopeful that they'll come around:

- Just Joey
- Valencia
- Evelyn
- Ch-Ching
- New Zealand
- Oklahoma

I find that very strange that it takes quite a few years for fragrance to come in for some of my roses. Whereas others are fragrant from year one.

Carol

Thanks for your input. For some reason I find this an interesting topic, I guess because I do love fragrant roses, and sometimes fragrance can be so illusive. Carol - Interesting that Oklahoma is not fragrant for you, but seems to be very fragrant for most people. I am going to have to get that rose, I should have it already. I remember reading a comment about Tropicana in a rose book, a gentleman stated it "smelled no better than cardboard," not very flattering, I don't detect cardboard, just no scent at all! I recall last summer I took a Peace rose to my co-worker a couple of times during the season, because it is her favorite, she could smell it as soon as she entered the building. I have always detected a light scent from Peace, but it's never been strong.

This post was edited by Sara-Ann on Tue, Mar 11, 14 at 22:35

America's perfume is strong & deep to me, losing just a little each day till the bloom shatters. Yet those for sale last year that I sniffed had just the barest whiff, though I checked each bloom on several plants. Maturity of some plants? Seems known fragrant blooms become more strongly scented when they receive lots of water as the flowers form. Last Summer we had much more & frequent rain than usual, and the roses' perfume cranked way up.

I'll third your complaint about America! Mine does have some fragrance--maybe even 'moderate' fragrance--but it really isn't special. I think I sniff it the least of all my roses~

I'm not too partial to its colour, either--a pink closer to fuchsia than salmon, for me--but I love the flower form; and I'm always amazed at how long the flowers last, staying perfectly cupped right to the end; and the plant survives our 4b winters without protection even though it always dies to the ground, so it stays :)

Scent is probably the most subjective aspect of roses. Every rose reacts differently to it's conditions and may smell wonderful in one place and not at all in another. The temperatures, the soil, the humidity and probably a hundred other factors could all affect the scent of a rose. And everyone's nose is different too. What smells divine for one may reek for another. I don't go by what other report for fragrance any more. I go by what MY nose tells me.

Seil (above), I actually don't think I can ever remember being surprised by the scent of a rose I knew, no matter where it was growing--Oregon or Alabama or Ontario--, but then I'm not at all talking about subtleties, just about recognizing favourite smells of favourite roses, and so on.

I wonder about other people's experiences of coming upon familiar roses growing away from home.

I have also been wondering about the old garden roses and their fragrance. I guess they need to get established before the scent comes through, I remember that it was that way with my first Zephirine Drouhin. My Rose de Rescht bloomed the most of my old garden roses and I haven't detected much fragrance them it yet either.

Sara-Ann, I don't think it is really a matter of the rose getting established. My RdR gave out quite a strong old rose fragrance, for my nose, since it first bloomed in my garden. If the climatic conditions are right the scent will be mostly there. Now, whether one's nose can catch the scent or not is a personal matter. Every rose that is reported as fragrant IS fragrant. At least to some.
Nik

And there's the proof of the pudding, Sara! My Rose de Rescht is one of THE most fragrant roses in my garden. Probably only beaten by my Reine des Violettes for strength of fragrance.

This topic comes up here from time to time. There are numerous factors which control rose scent. Many, such as time of day or year, recent weather and soil moisture are mentioned above. The type of scent is also important. I cannot detect tea scent at all. In fact, most of my roses offer only a slight fragrance. RdR and my Rugosa Rootesmeer smell strong in the spring. Surprisingly, I can smell a sweet, fruity fragrance from Knock Out during its massive spring flush (the power of numbers?).

Overall, I cannot easily detect most rose fragrances. Yet I am overwhelmed by lilac, Korean Spice viburnum, hyacinth and butterfly bush in my garden.

Since each of us is different, it is difficult to offer a definitive explantion of rose scent.

It seems like most of the conflicting reports of a given rose's fragrance are all about degree, not kind? Or has someone had a different experience with a certain rose?

Hi, I'm new here. I have a question that is partially on topic, I wouldn't know what key words to use to search a possible thread for this.

My question is about identifying a rose by fragrance alone.

When I was about 7 years old, my great grandmother had roses in her yard. The flower color I remember seeing was a lighter shade pink, somewhere between cameo and pale peach colored. But it's the fragrance that I strongly remember, and have been searching for this fragrance during my adult life. I found a really similar fragrance when I smelled "Tangerine Streams" at Heirloom Roses the other day, but the fragrance was very faint and faded after a couple sniffs.

The fragrance I'm searching for smells much like warmed red grapes, lilac and wood. Can anyone possibly identify this rose? Thanks in advance.

This post was edited by somestrangewoman on Wed, Apr 9, 14 at 0:30

Most roses described as fragrant are fragrant for MY nose, or at least ones I've grown/encountered are.
I CAN detect the Tea fragrance (such as Graham Thomas or even Charlotte, as I am too far north for those aristocratic Teas); for me it's very ' dry' and herbal. Definitely not sweet, rosie, or fruity. I find it very peculiar yet pleasant.
To me, Tropicana has what I would call fragrant blooms (not slight nor strong, but there). It's of a fruity nature and of medium strength.
I can also smell Peace. To me, it's even stronger than Tropicana, but far from intense and reminiscent of bananas.
I think my favourite scent is the citrus tinged damask of the fragrant reds such as Mirandy, Chrysler Imperial, etc.

Steven

I gave away Red Cross (Love's Promise), Camille Pissarro and Souvenir de la Malmaison because I couldn't smell any scent. I kept Hilde, hoping it would come good. It hasn't. And it's not just my nose at issue. Nobody got any scent from any of these. Red Cross now lives at a friend's place where it must be happier because it's finally scented - to everyone's nose. I wonder whether this is because the nights are colder where my friend lives.

The roses I have that are noticeably scented here would probably be overpowering there, but I'm not parting with them. They are: Angel Face, Fire Fighter, Ebb Tide, Old Fragrance, Jude the Obscure, Pope JPII and Nahema.

Quite an interesting discussion.

So what about roses that you buy from a nursery potted which are very fragrant, stay fragrant for the rest of the season and then come back the next year with no fragrance?

Last year I planted the following roses and they were all fragrant when I purchased them and put out fragrant blooms in my garden as well:

Oh My!
Arctic Flame

Then this year, I got the same flowers but zero fragrance regardless of what time of the day I sniff.

Any theories on what happened there?

I agree it has to do with how sensitive your nose is and a lot to do with humidity. What you smell is oils in the rose. That is where rose essential oils come from. This explains why Bulgarian Rose Oil, Turkish Rose Oil and Damask rose oils smell distinctly different because they use different varieties under different climate conditions. In very dry climates these evaporate very quickly. This is why the strongest smell is in the morning before the roses fully open to the sun. If it rains hard the oils can be washed out or weighed down by the water droplets and less likely to be in the air where you can smell them. Similarly, it is not unusual for the first few flowers in spring to have less fragrance for me. Also, different noses are sensitive to different scents and the combination of chemicals in the oils produced by different roses are different. Some lemony and some fruity. I can hold a bottle of Jo Malone Lime Blossom perfume to my gf mother's nose and she smells nothing at all, but I think it smells so nice. Also, I have had roses that took a few years to become fragrant (PAOK). I think often time gardeners are not patient enough to wait through the Sleep, Creep, and Leap of a rose growth cycle for a new plant to get really established. During this time the fragrance is more likely to come and go. During this time I think the color and bloom form can be inconsistent too. In other words they produced more oils more consistently as they became more vigorous. I just planted a climbing Peace rose and have been warned by many that this rose takes 4 years to really flower. 4 YEARS! But I am willing to wait. Here in Texas the humidity on hot days carries more fragrance then if we were in a high dry dessert area at the same temperature. Hybrid teas love our climate, which makes them easier to grow here and many are intensely fragrant. Interestingly if you put some cut roses in a warm water and cover them under glass (like in an apothecary vase) for about 30 minutes the fragrance will really intensify. The oils evaporate in the warm water, condense on the glass and then collect on the water surface. Because the water provides a larger surface area you can smell the collected oils better. If you do this you can sometimes even smell roses that you thought were completely scentless. I learned this from another poster mariannese. It is easy to do and you can buy these jars at Michael's or World Market or Target. In short I think there are a bunch of factors. I smelled Intrigue in many stores and greenhouses and got little sent, but then took a gamble on 5$ plant at Walmart base on online comments on the garden forum and, OMG, it is amazing. I have learned a lot about fragrance and fragrant roses from roseseek as well.

Here is a great thread: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1655247/curious-observation-about-fragrance

I have a four year old Miss All American Beauty that has grown big and healthy every year. It is said to be fragrant but mine has never had the slightest bit of fragrance.

"These have no fragrance - so I'm hopeful that they'll come around"

canadian_rose, New Zealand is one of the most powerfully fragrant ones I have ever smelled! The fragrance smells lightly of classic damask but very potently sweet, somewhat honey-like. (Maybe it has to be under the right conditions because the air was cool and moist and it had just lightly drizzled)

Sadly in hot & humid Florida I can not detect much fragrance in most roses . The one that makes me sad is Fragrant Cloud , everyone says it is super smelly and I can't smell anything . also Perfume Delight which I s/p never smelled of anything although it was 6 ft tall. Today the first beautiful blooms of my new California Dreamin rose opened and they have zero smell . The ones that are consistent are : Mr.Lincon , Double Delight , PJP .

Don't feel bad, Fragrant cloud smells kind of obnoxious almost, reminiscent of cloves and wild strawberry. It's pretty fragrant, but the fragrance type is not my favorite. This is one I could do without, despite all the good things I read about it.