I had several pleasant surprises this summer for fragrance, probably several ties.

1. Firefighter

2. Buxom Beauty

3. Tiffany, Chrysler Imperial, The McCartney Rose

4. Big Momma, Sunsprite

5. Amalia, Meredith

Of course Pink Peace, Double Delight, Aloha, Perfume Delight and Fragrant Plum are fragrant too, but they're not new to me. Oh, later on in the season I planted Angel Face and Lagerfeld, they are both wonderfully fragrant. My old garden roses haven't bloomed enough yet for me to know. It is difficult for me to describe a scent. In my opinion the ones listed here are all very pleasant.

For me it's La France, Bishop's Castle, Souvenir de la Malmaison and Aunt Margy's Rose. In my hot climate there's not much blooming right now, fragrant or otherwise.

My Alnwick has taken two years to begin blooming but now I saw some pretty roses this fall although they are small. I had some light fragrance and I'm hoping for some beautiful perfume in cooler temps later on.

Jude the Obscure really surprised us with a strong citrus almost lime scented group of flowers this last week. Usually its more fruity-lemon but this time the citrus was overpowering and no myrrh at all which was unusual.

My favorite is Sonia Rykiel. I know many people don't like the growth habit of this rose but I grow her tied up on a trellis just because I love the perfume of this beautiful rose. And it changes all the time depending on weather.

Abraham Darby has been giving wonderful fruit and rose scented flowers as well. I put mine in the bathroom as Kim suggested and it's wonderful in a higher humidity room when we are in a dry heat wave.

My other favorites this summer were
Papa M and Firefighter
PJPII and Scentimental
La France, Frederick M and Tiffany
SDLM, Heritage and La Reine
Pink Peace and Perfume Delight
Memorial Day and Radox Bouquet
Sterling Silver, Starlight ( Lagerfeld) and Love Potion
Rouge Royale and Alan T ( Huntington Rose )

My neighbor's outstanding Fragrant Cloud

From my new ones, I think my favorite fragrances are:

Royal Amethyst
Centennial Star
Bronze Star
Eternal Flame
Big Momma
Spice (Bourbon)
Felicia (Hybrid Musk)

And then of my others, fragrant standouts are:

Marie Pavie, Rose de Rescht and SdlM
Singin the Blues
Dolly Parton and Fragrant Cloud
Peter Mayle and Grand Dame
Sweet Surrender, The McCartney Rose and Perfume Delight
Firefighter
PJPII and Sugar Moon
Double Delight
Julia Child and White Licorice

Double Delight and roasting venison.

Steve,
Do you think you could come on up here and pick off a few of the varmints? They raided by backyard last Friday and took all Princess Alexandra's blooms, among others. You could even go up the road a few miles and get yourself an elk. One of my friends up there has them hanging out in her yard most years. Diane

Double delight
Sceptered isle
Memorial Day
Just Joey
PJP2
Wedgewood Rose
Enchanted evening
Papa meilland
Funny, I do not care for sceptered isle until September!

Susan - My Just Joey and Enchanted Evening have no scent. That seems to happen to a lot of my roses - no scent until year 3. I wonder why??? What does Wedgewood Rose smell like?

Steve - venison. :) Good sense of humor. Stupid deer.

Pat - oh yeah, I forgot about Peter Mayle (not blooming now). What a wonderful fragrance. Oh yeah, Perfume Delight (not blooming now) - what a lovely color and fragrance. Ahhhh!! You have a long list of roses I've always wanted to try.

Kitty - oh the fragrance of The Alnwick Rose. Although my husband and one of my daughters can't smell anything. My other daughter and I just about faint from the beauty of the smell. Hopefully you're not one of those who can't smell it. Jude the Obscure - didn't do well for me - but the fragrance was outstanding. Might want to try it again. Lucky for you, you've had 2 outstanding fragrances for the same rose. :)

Ingrid - I haven't smelled any of those roses you've mentioned. Which one is your favorite of those?

Sarah-Ann - I tried Buxom Beauty this spring as a bare root (one of 9 new bare roots) and it died. :( I was really looking forward to the fragrance. Do you like the fragrance better than Pink Peace and Perfume Delight (two roses I have)

Those of you who have Tiffany - does yours smell like apples? Mine does - still thinking it's not Tiffany.

Carol

I guess I'll join in with a few of my favs:

My top smeller is Frederic Mistral. I'm enjoying a bouquet of nothing but FM right now, and it's distracting me with its rich, slightly sweet scent. Evelyn is probably next on the list, followed by, in no special order, Angel Face, Brother Cadfael, Big Purple, Munstead Wood, Eglantyne, and The Prince. There are others, but it's very late and my brain is shutting down. Or shut already. Diane

I've got 10 rose bushes bought for their fragrant flowers but I must face that though they're strongly perfumed, I don't like most of those scents. The only ones I love are Old Fragrance, Ebb Tide and Jude the Obscure.

Carol - I like all three, I believe Buxom Beauty is somewhat stronger than Pink Peace or Perfume Delight, but they are all very nice fragrances.

Sara Annâ¦I wasnâÂÂt familiar with Buxom Beauty and just looked it up. All in the world I need is another deep pinkâ¦but WOWâ¦and another pink is now added to my wish listâ¦lol.
Dianeâ¦thereâÂÂs that Munstead Wood being mentioned again! I swore off Austins many years ago due to issues the older ones had in my garden, BUT I think IâÂÂm just going to have to try MW.
Canadian Roseâ¦I frequently canâÂÂt smell a rose until its second year, but Just Joey had no smell to me until at least year threeâ¦so hang in there, its fragrance should come.
Rrossâ¦sadly, my Ebb Tide has all but died from fungal issues in our strange weather this year. Usually one of my favs, but its struggled so with all the torrential rains weâÂÂve had this year. Hoping now that our weather seems to have stabilized a bit, ET will put out some new growth and pull through.
Steveâ¦my dogs seem to keep the deer out of my garden, but those darn bunnies keep sneaking inâ¦.so "Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, Elmer Fudd and I are huntin wabbits"

IâÂÂm running out of irrigated space or places that can be reached by a hose, so until I can afford to expand on the irrigation system (or buy some really, really long hosesâ¦lol), IâÂÂm trying to be way more particular and only add extremely fragrant roses. Making notes from everyoneâÂÂs list here and going to look them up!

Oops, I forgot to add Ebb Tide and Jude to my list. Ebb Tide is especially good smelling, but as Pat says, it does have its problems. In my garden where I have three, ET has a very homely growth habit, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better, even after about 7 years in the ground. Pat, have you tried Twilight Zone? Doesn't smell quite as good as ET, but is a better rose for me, and might be for you. Diane

Diane, I've had my Ebb Tide for 4 years now, and until this year, it's been a nice rounded bush...seemed to have topped out at about 3 feet, though. It would BS some, but not any worse than most roses in my high humidity. Now, it only has two canes remaining...one of those isn't looking so great and neither has any leaves left. A local nursery had Twilight Zone this spring, but at that time, I didn't know I might soon need it. If ET doesn't make it, I may try Twilight Zone next year. Seems like I heard it holds its dark purple color better in the heat than ET?

Hi,

The Best Smelling Rose Ever is "Double Delight".

Double Delight, a hybrid tea rose with a long season of bloom, was an AARS winner back in 1977. The double blossoms have a rich, creamy white to pale pink center with deep, ruby edging. They have a bushy habit, growing to about 4-5 feet with a 2-3 foot spread.

Double Delight shows good disease resistance, which also does in the blossoms. Expect a sweet, spicy scent.

Hi Shrey - I have Double Delight, and yes I think it smells great. But I have others that smell way better and get more flowers. :) But it sounds like it's the cat's meow at your place. It is a great rose. :)

nanadoll - I didn't know that Ebb Tide had a great fragrance. Well. hmmmmm.....sounds interesting :) My Brother Cadfael flowers (bare root rose this spring) have recently opened -- and the fragrance!!!!!! It's exceptional!!! I had no idea. :)

Pat - yeah, I've found that too for some of my roses. I'll hang in there...can't wait for the smell. :)

Sara-Ann - Ahhhhh rose fragrances. Yum! Gee, wish I could have done better for my bare root Buxom Beauty. Maybe next year. :)

rross - Don't you just love Old Fragrance and Jude!!! I killed my Jude, unfortunately. I've never smelled Ebb Tide. My Old Fragrance is a bare root from this spring, and it's grown to 4 feet high. It must be huge in your zone! Does it get a lot of flowers? Such a pretty flower!!

Carol

Pat, I do think Twilight Zone holds its gorgeous purple color better in the sun and heat up here. I've had good luck with the purplish color of the Prince, and yes, Munstead Wood. Diane

Hi Carol
Old Fragrance is the most reliable, bullet-proof, blackspot-proof workhorse of a rose I've ever had. I grew it from a cutting and kept it in a pot on a blisteringly hot concrete balcony for about 8 years. It survived a relentless drought for weeks with zero water when I had to leave in an emergency. It's now in the ground, in clay soil where it seems happy. it's not overwhelmingly tall but not short either. I prune it quite hard after each flower flush and it doesn't mind. It has a quick rebloom and the prunings strike easily. And after smelling its wonderful scent, I find a lot of other rose scents a bit disappointing.
Rachel

Carol - Sometimes that just happens with bare root roses.
Pat -Yes, Buxom Beauty is a deep pink, but to me the color can almost be indescribable at times.
Don't know why I forgot Sheila's Perfume earlier. It's very fragrant and very dependable for me.

Rachel - I'm sooooo happy I got Old Fragrance. So nice to hear it's even better than I hoped!!!

Sheila's Perfume - hmmmm. :)
Carol

Rosa moschata... yum I kept holding a tiny bud vase with one flower cluster in it and I didn't want to put it down but walk around and smelling it all day. I finally put it in my purse, then on the dashboard and drove away into the sunset with my dainty white Musk rose. In my mind the only white rose that can compete with a gardenia for divine lusciousness of scent.
Tea rose scent: Cometesse Emmeline de Guigne, Westroad Cream Tea, Etoille de Lyon, honeysuckle and cream.
Tifanny, damask and floral blend.
for intensity of damask rose scent: Papa Meilland, Glendora, Damask Rose.
Lemon Spice and its pink sport Sunday Lemonade which smells like its sport parent, lemon and spice, but with added damask.

Lux

Lux - I've never heard of Rosa moschata. So I looked it up. Looks pretty! What a mood lifter - toting around such a wonderful scent with you. :)

My Tiffany smells like apples. I guess it's not Tiffany. Do you have a picture of your Tiffany?

I love lemon scented roses - Lemon Spice looks nice.
Carol

Old Fragrance just produced its first flower of the season. It smells and looks as good as ever.

Lemon Spice.

Oooh!! Love your Old Fragrance. I can't wait until next summer. :) I need to buy a second home in Australia :) Then I could have roses all year round. Or move to California. :)

susan - I love lemon scented roses. what do you think of the rose flowers/bush?
Carol

Hi Carol
Don't be in too much of a hurry to grow roses here. Today, (in our so-called temperate zone) it was horribly hot with a blistering wind that ripped through my roses and murdered several Spring flushes. I tried to wet the feet of all the rose bushes but I think I just managed to boil them to death.

1.firefighter
2.twice in a blue moon
3.flaming cardinal
4.signature
5.chris evert
6.stainless steel
7.papa meilland

In my hot and dry zone 10 climate not many roses would hold much fragrance in the 40 degrees Celcius heat but if I cut them and bring them in these will still smell good: Firefighter, Stainless Steel, Memorial Day, Double Delight, New Zealand, Barbra Streisand. Ebb tides still smells good in the morning but fries by late morning. When the temperature comes down, Frederic Mistral, Papa Meilland, Crimson Glory, Beverley, Blue Moon and Felicia all smell fantastic.