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lovelivegarden

Scent is missing from my scented roses?!

LoveLiveGarden
10 years ago

This may sound silly.. but my normally very fragrant roses are not fragrant during this first flush of blooms? What affects scent anyways? Double delight, Yves Piaget, W. Shakespeare, Midnight Blue and the likes only have a very vague scent this spring. In fact, when I went to the nursery this morning.. very few roses were fragrant. And I'm talking about the ones that are supposed to be fragrant. It's not my nose either. My Rose de Rescht is still fragrant. We had an exceptionally cold winter. Could that have done it? On the up side, my 'Radiant Perfume' which has NEVER emitted anything perfume like is smelling nice this year. SO strange... or am I missing something here?

Comments (12)

  • roseseek
    10 years ago

    Fragrance is basically oil and alcohol. There are other components, but thinking of them in this very simplistic explanation, makes it easier to juggle. There are a number of very volatile components to flower scents which must have the correct humidity and temperatures to volitize 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. There are times you can apply your cologne and smell it for hours, while other times, you put it on and can't smell it half an hour later. Same thing.

    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. Of course, medications, allergies and other conditions can incredibly alter our abilities to smell (and taste), also. Kim

  • Susanne27
    10 years ago

    This is not exactly on topic but I wanted to mention that I notice that a fragrant orchid I have inside is not always fragrant? I am blesses (or cursed) with an extremely strong sense of smell so I don't think its me.

  • strawchicago z5
    10 years ago

    Hi Lovelivegarden: I did an experiment with my herbs (basil, rosemary, and cilantro) by throwing blood meal, NPK 12-0-0 ... all the fabulous scents went away, replaced by pungent ickiness.

    I threw acid high-nitrogen fertilizer on Mary Magdalene rose on summer and its fabulous myrrh scent went away.

    High nitrogen fertilizer in spring time does that to roses. Check out what eHow wrote on excess nitrogen:

    "Too Leafy: Plants that receive too much nitrogen may give off the appearance that they are healthy and thriving by producing lots of new, leafy growth. However, this new growth is often weak, soft and sappy, which makes the plant attractive to various pests and unable to sustain the stress of drought. And if the plant is aromatic, it loses much of its fragrance.

    No Fruit or Flowers: It's difficult for fruit and flowers to grow when there is too much nitrogen in the soil. Fruit that does grow is distorted or doesn't ripen properly, while flower buds fall off or are disfigured if they do bloom."

    Here is a link that might be useful: The effect of too much nitrogen

  • canadian_rose
    10 years ago

    Every fall my roses have no fragrance. Just too cool. However - my friend's rose Chapeau de Napoleon (sp?) when it blooms in cold weather is astonishingly strong scented. I couldn't believe how strong the scent was. Roses just don't smell here in the spring/fall. But then ChdN is an old rose - so maybe that's why.
    Carol

  • LoveLiveGarden
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Okay. Thanks!

  • himalayanmusk51
    10 years ago

    The scent is missing from my roses and I'm so disappointed! I have Rose de Rescht, Comte de Chambord, and Zephirine Drouhin and the David Austin Rose, Falstaff...and only sometimes if there a faint whiff of scent. I thought I was losing my sense of smell, but I can smell the aromas from my lavender, thyme, rosemary, mint and marjoram and anise hyssop (and my apricots which are stewing as I write!). So it's not my nose. Maybe my garden's too dry. Anyway, thanks for the information, glad to see it's not just me & my garden, & glad I joined this site.

  • fragrancenutter
    8 years ago

    I agree with all the above. Often when I take cut roses to work I cannot smell much of the fragrance while I was in the car but once I take them out of the car the strong fragrance hit me in the face straight away. My roses here in hot dry climate smell their best in autumn. Spring is less good and summer is the worst. There are a few roses that continue to impress with their strong fragrance in hot dry summer though - Firefighter, New Zealand, Memorial Day, Felicia, Ebb Tide (in the morning) still manage to pump out lots of scent at 40 degrees C.

  • Ann-SoCalZ10b SunStZ22
    8 years ago

    Thanks for all the great information everyone! I planted a second Balero Rose this year and because I'm in love with it's amazing scent and lovely romantic blush-white blooms... It just bloomed for me today and I was SO DISAPPOINTED to find that there was no scent. I'm hoping this will change... And that i didn't get a bad rose bush from the nursey.

  • baseelo
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I have some Gamble award-winning fragrant roses. In theory, you can't go wrong with these!!

    From my experience I have two that never disappoint me:

    1) Fragrant Cloud.

    2) Mr. Lincoln.

    I always get wonderfully fragrant roses out of these two bushes.

    Now with Sunsprite, I used to get fragrant roses, but not any more!!

    Dark Desire, I got roses with enticing fragrance last year. I really fell in love with the fragrance, but not this year!!

    It is not possible to point fingers at the fertilizers or weather, because they are the same obviously for all of the plants.

    This issue is an enigma to me and to so many people.

    I have reached a point where the only thing I care about is to have a healthy looking plant with nice roses and not to expect fragrance of ANY ROSE!

    Hopefully, somebody will find the real reason behind this strange phenomenon!!

  • Paula Steiner
    3 years ago

    Roses need sun and warmth for their scent to emerge. The nursery is kept cold so they'll last longer. Someone told me that they're breeding roses to smell less intense, but that seems wrong, and counterintuitive if it's true. I mean, what's the use of a rose that doesn't smell like a rose? You might as well have a camellia.

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