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ebardawil

Superior Fragrance, Superior Roses

ebardawil
11 years ago

This summer I became very interested in roses. By the end of the summer I accumulated a collection of about 30.

There were three qualification for making what I consider to be a very exclusive list; Hardiness (with a few years of indoor growing conditions to get established if necessary), Fragrance, and Reputation . My wife is from Iran, so many of the roses were bought in an attempt to create the scents of Iran in our garden i.e. the Damask and Musk fragrance (which is the only place where I took 'risk' with modern roses that have not gone through the scrupulus competition of rose success). I would love to hear your critiques of my list as I feel I will benefit immensely from it . Before the summer started I knew nothing of roses, but by reading these forums along with borrowing rose books from my local botanical garden I have concluded with a summer of fun and obsessive research.

(Sorry for Spelling)

GALLICA: Belle de Cercy

DAMESCENA: Kazanlik, Ispahan, MMe Hardy, Autumn Damask

CENTIFOLIA: Centifolia sp (Cabbage Rose)

ALBA: Maiden's Blush, Felicity Parmentier

MUSK: Rosa Moschata, Nastarana

BOURBON: Souvenir de la Malmaison, MMe Isaac Pereire

HYBRID PERPETUAL: Reine Des Violettes, Baronne Provost, Duchesse de Rohan, Pierre Notting

PORTLAND: Portland from Glendora, Compte de Chambord

NOISETTE: Blush Noisette

TEA: Lady Hillington Climbing

TEA NOISETTE: Gloire De Dijon

HYBRID RUGOSA: Blanc Double De Coubert, Roseria del Hay

HYBRID SPINOSSIMA: Stanwell Perpetual

HYBRID MUSK: Secret Garden Musk Climber, Matchball, Reverend Seidel

HYBRID TEA: September Morn, Climbing Crimson Glory

As I've mentioned, I would love to hear your comments, trials and tribulations with any of these roses in Denver zone 5b-6, and anything else you have to say. Cheers, Eric

Comments (11)

  • catsrose
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great list! I don't know how well Blush Noisette, Gloire de Dijon and the hybrid teas will do with Denver winters, but I've grown most of the others or similar in Santa Fe ad they fine.

    You could also grow hybrid foetida, Persian Yellow, which is native to the Middle East ad does extremely well in northern NM and, I would presume, in Denver. The scent is not great, but the color is glorious.

  • mariannese
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've no comments on your choice although I grow half of the roses on your list. My climate in Sweden is too different in spite of roughly the same zone. But I think you should include one more Persian rose, Rose de Rescht, a deep pink Portland or damask, a constant bloomer. HMF says it has scattered later blooms but that isn't true here. It flowers profusely the whole summer till October in my garden.

  • eahamel
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Blush Noisette is a large-growing shrub rose and blooms almost constantly in my warm climate. The temps are just now getting cool (44 right now) and it's loaded with blooms and buds.

    I also have Portland from Glendora, it's a very pretty rose, blooms once, then occasionally, but in your cooler climate it will probably bloom more frequently. It's easy to grow from root cuttings, too.

  • User
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If its superior fragrance you are looking for, you can leave 'Gloire de Dijon' off your list: it is only moderately scented, and it is also going to be severely freeze damaged every winter in a zone 6 climate, enough so that you will rarely have any wood survive much about the soil line. The same can be said of 'Blush Noisette': not sufficiently hardy for your climate.

    I also think you should swap in 'Rose de Rescht' which will be particularly well-suited to your climate.

  • ebardawil
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks, I knew I would get some good advice.

    I have thought about the Persian Yellow, but two big things stray me away from this rose; once blooming and no fragrance.

    I have been contemplating adding Rose De Rescht to the list for a while, and your recommendations may persuade me to order tonight :)

    I am planning on growing gloire de dijon and the other more tender roses indoors over the winter for the first three years. I'm then hoping that by planting them against a south facing wall together with the intense Denver sun may give them a chance.

    Thanks again for the feedback

  • Krista_5NY
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Stanwell Perpetual is a wonderful rose, almost always in bloom with a wonderful fragrance, very charming.

    Blush Noisette is hardy for me here and is about 3 1/2 - 4 feet tall. Lovely blooms in clusters, good repeat bloom.

    Mme Isaac Pereire is a winner for me, spectacular blooms and fragrance, good repeat bloom.

    Souv de la Malmaison is a lovely rose that blooms well in summer, lovely fragrance.

    Reine des Violettes is a beautiful rose, also very fragrant with charming blooms and a graceful growth habit, thornless.

    Comte de Chambord and Baronne Prevost, incredible fragrance, hardy, wonderful big blooms.

    Duchesse de Rohan, slow to mature, but is a beautiful rose.

  • melissa_thefarm
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    How do you feel about once-blooming roses? I know you have a few listed, but there are zillions of others that are fit for the most beautiful garden in the world, and they're hardy in your zone. I can grow both warm climate and hardy roses, but have a large population of once-blooming kinds just because I love their habit, foliage, buds, and hips, as well as their flowers.
    I haven't checked 'Persian Yellow' for these qualities, but its single parent, or sport parent, Rosa foetida, has a fragrance often described as linseed oil, and its buds smell like artificial orange beverage. Its blooms are the vividest yellow you can imagine and the plant is handsome and interesting. This, 'Persian Yellow', and R. foetida's brilliant yellow-and-orange sport 'Austrian Copper' are all very well worth growing, and smelling.
    You have found a lot of nice roses for your list. As others have mentioned, I wonder about the more tender varieties in your area.

  • strawchicago z5
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't have Climbing Crimson Glory, I have a tiny own-root Crimson Glory Hybrid tea. Crimson Glory is known as mildew-prone, so it was in a dinky pot, until I planted it in my wet alkaline clay soil (we have 40" rain and 38" snow per year). Crimson Glory HT becomes my favorite, zero mildew nor blackspots once planted in my wet clay.

  • ebardawil
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Melissa, which once blooming roses would you recommend? Eric

  • User
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "I am planning on growing gloire de dijon and the other more tender roses indoors over the winter for the first three years. I'm then hoping that by planting them against a south facing wall together with the intense Denver sun may give them a chance."

    In this particular instance, I don't think that will result in anything but years of frustration, as you watch all of the seasons wood destroyed every time the winter temps drop below 10F. 'Gloire de Dijon' is not a winter hardy variety, no matter how you pamper it in its early years. (Here in zone 8a, I cannot grow it out in the garden, only inside the greenhouse does it survive the freezes) But folks have to find this out for themselves, you can't tell anyone they can't do something they are determined to do! LOL

  • melissa_thefarm
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Eric,

    Well, there are too many to name, but some that come to me at once are

    'Common Moss'--lanky, derived from 'Centifolia', fragrant, fascinating buds
    'Crested Moss' (aka 'Chapeau de Napoleon')--another Centifolia sport, with charming cocked hat buds and all the fragrance, fullness, and old rose color of its parent
    'Mme. Zoetmans'--white with slight blush, shortish Gallica habit (forms a thicket of upright stems and suckers), extremely rich fragrance
    'Alain Blanchard'--red, shortish Gallica, not as much fragrance as some but it has delightful freckles
    'De la Maitre-Ecole' (there are several variants of this name), Gallica, medium height, vigorous, large double fragrant pink-mauve-lilac blooms, gets mildew in summer but is totally untroubled by it
    'Belle sans Flatterie'--double pink refined Gallica, low suckering habit, robust, fragrant
    'Belle Amour'--thorny lanky plant of uncertain derivation, charming peach-tinted pink semi-double blooms with a boss of golden stamens, myrrh-scented
    'Fantin-Latour'--big shrub probably with some China in its ancestry, smallish double light pink very fragrant blooms, smooth stems and few thorns, gets summer mildew but isn't bothered by it; the whole plant is so robust and healthy and RIGHT that it's a pleasure to work with it
    'Ypsilante'--big flat pink-mauve-gray fragrant blooms like velvet powderpuffs
    'Tuscany Superb'--extremely deep rich wine-red, double flowers, suckering Gallica habit, not too tall, foliage colors in fall
    'Capitain John Ingram'--Moss with small fragrant double blooms with a button eye, deep lilac to purple and velvety above, smooth and lighter before, to be studied up close
    'Juno'-- beautiful large double pale blooms, fragrant, lax rather thorny growth, tough plant, not too large in my garden

    Well, I could go on and on, these are just off the top of my head. VERY IMPORTANT: just because a rose isn't on this list doesn't mean it's not as good as, or even better, than the ones I've listed. All the Albas are good. Among Damaks I didn't list 'Leda' and 'Pink Leda', among others. And there many, many wonderful Gallicas, which had a period of glory in the first part of the 19th century that resulted in many fine varieties. And the Mosses are fascinating.
    Then there are the Scots roses derived from R. spinosissima (=R. pimpinellifolia), which I don't grow because they don't like my conditions, but I would if they did better for me. 'Stanwell Perpetual' that you list is a Spinosissima cross.
    Have you had a chance to look at once-blooming old roses in a garden? Because the flowers are only a small part of the story. I like the range of habits and variety of growth of the old roses, some making a thicket of upright stems, others sending out lanky long canes; some thorny, some bristly; most with more or less rough-textured growth; many with fragrant, slightly sticky buds; showing a wide variety of hips; many coloring in fall. These roses that I love look, to my eyes, wilder than their Oriental cousins the Teas and Chinas, and they have in bloom an opulence all their own.

    Melissa