Reccy's for the Strongest Scented Rose

**bobbin** · 25-10-2018, 10:16 AM

Oh dear I'm suprised you have had no replies on this. I have a subscription with Which gardening magazine ( hope I'm not in trouble for mentioning it) mag. This month it's on longest flowering roses. Repeat flowering etc and also mentions scent. Maybe you can borrow said magazine The Best Buy that would suit your requirements was 'Bright as a Button' why not google it. It said great disease resistance ,a lovely sweet scent and flowered until Autumn.
from a fellow gardener. I have Gertrude Jekyll which is stunning.you can grow it as other than a climber too. Pink and heavily scented but will succumb in Sept to black spot if I'm not vigilant. Funnily enough I'm about to buy Rhapsody in Blue but to put in the ground. I just don't find roses do that well in pots unfortunately. Mine really struggle.
Hope this helps.

**Thelma Sanders** · 25-10-2018, 10:49 AM

I've not had much luck with them in tubs either

The rose with the most perfume in my garden is Mme. Isaac Pereire, which flowers generously in June and then repeats on and off through the year.But, as most roses I've grown she does get blackspot.
Even the Austen roses which are sold as disease resistant get blackspot here, so I don't think a totally disease resistant, garden worthy rose actually exists

Most of the Austen bred roses I have, seem to hold their flowers at about 4ft high, because they throw up such long shoots, so not very good in tubs IMO but good if you want strong growing bushes for the back of a border.

**nickdub** · 25-10-2018, 02:20 PM

Best bet in my opinion is to visit garden centers and other places when the roses are in flower and test this out for yourself. One person's opinion of a good scent, is apt to be someone-else's "Oh yuk"

**Thelma Sanders** · 25-10-2018, 03:01 PM

Sadly many garden centres don't carry much stock and gardens like Hidcote or Sissinghurst don't grow many (If any) modern hybrids

Can't think of anywhere you can actually do side by side comparisons, which is a real shame.

**Scarlet** · 25-10-2018, 05:08 PM

Definately too far for the OP but worth a drive is Mottisfont gardens in the Rose season Thelma....couple of hours drive for you maybe? They stock a good selection of roses at the beginning of the season too.
I have the Gertrude Jekyll in both both shrub and climber - pink and smells delicious. The shrub still has flowers today....but as you say, GCs don't really stock roses and they are best ordered online.

There's a thread somewhere with some photos of roses...may be worth taking a look. I also have a lovely peach rose with a good smell and is still in flower....another David A.
May be worth getting the catalogue...
White/yellows most fragrant - the poets wife, desdemona, Charles Darwin.
Pinks - Gertrude Jekyll, harlows Carr
Peach - Bathsheba, lady Emma Hamiltonw
Deep red - munstead wood
I've a code for David A online- save 15% on all orders before 11th November 2018 - ECA
I just got a couple of bare roots.

This is worth a read
https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ses_93785.html

**Thelma Sanders** · 25-10-2018, 05:19 PM

I have a Munstead Wood and agree it smells gorgeous and it has repeated much more frequently than the other DA roses in this drought year. I prefer it to GJekyll which I have on an arch, it certainly has more flowers and a gentler growth habit here.

Oh Scarlet! why did you tell me about that offer .... dashes off to see if I can perhaps cram another rose in somewhere/anywhere

**veggiechicken** · 25-10-2018, 05:19 PM

Originally posted by bobbin View Post

Oh dear I'm suprised you have had no replies on this.

The OP won't be surprised as she hasn't been back since she asked the question!

**Scarlet** · 25-10-2018, 07:19 PM

Oh well....I may have lost Thelma some cash!! My two bare roots are in their way

**Babru** · 26-10-2018, 07:09 AM

I've tried two Austen roses in pots in the past, Gentle Hermione and Lady Emma Hamilton. Both had lovely perfume, each quite different. They were OK for a couple of years then got sickly and sad, even with new compost and good feeding, and eventually had to be put in the ground. I also found they had very drooping heads, like the flowers were too heavy for the stems. Tried harder pruning but I never shifted the problem, and it was the same once they were in the ground. Anyone else found this? Any suggestions welcome.

However I had a Gertrude Jekyll as a south-facing wall shrub in my last garden. Wonderful scent - outside the front door so I could sniff every time I went in and out - strong grower, no disease issues here in Edinburgh. It's my top rose and earmarked for my new garden next spring. The perfume just knocks my socks off.

**Babru** · 26-10-2018, 07:35 AM

.....re-reading the thread again, you can see and smell a large number of named roses at Regents Park in London and the rose garden at the Alnwick Garden. The show garden at the David Austen nursery near Wolverhampton is extensive and very lovely, I spent a happy half day here, and lunch in the cafe was good too. All fabulous places to visit if you're a rose lover.

There are also rose trials in Glasgow every year, with new roses awarded prizes for scent, people's choice etc, worth a look at this possibly. https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=16577

Glasgow's top scent prize for 2017 was a red rose called Bordeaux, bred by a German firm called Kordes. They decided years ago to stop spraying their trial beds and only grow healthy varieties, so maybe worth looking out for. Harkness roses likewise, see this article https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardenin...-best-to-grow/

At the end of the day perfume is a personal choice though, so it's best to seek out and sniff as many as you can before you decide which to buy for your garden. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it....!

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