Hi all a bit of subjective question.. But what is the best rose that you grow for scent? The best that I grow is Harlow Carr, Mme Alfred Carriere and the Churchill Rose. Gertrude Jekyl is lovely, but very fleeting for me. I'd love to gauge all of your opinions...
@Marlorena, with regard to Mme. Hardy - with the usual proviso about my poor sense of smell - I would say the fragrance is light. What I can detect is clean and fresh, perhaps a hint of freshly-mown grass or lemon.
@Jason-3, to answer your question, out of my 30-odd roses, the strongest for me are Gertrude Jekyll and my new La Rose de Molinard. Runners up are, and only now strong in their third year, are Munstead Wood and Lady Emma Hamilton. I get virtually nothing from Harlow Carr!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Of the ones I grow, Gertrude Jekyll, Golden Celebration and Scepter’d Isle are the most scented. The latter 2 flower continuously all season but Gertie I find temperamental, when she is good she is very very good......!😂
Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
@MMflower, I am happy with Climbing Claire Austin, which is vigorous on my arbour. The flowers are incurved, creamy/white with a pale lemony centre with a sweet perfume.
My most scented roses are GJ of course, Etoile du Hollande, Royal William, Winchester Cathedral, Margaret Merrill and Isaphan.
Re Harlow Carr I actually dislike this rose its droopy, has weak spindle like growth and is a prickly little so and so. It does have wonderful scent for me. I grow MW alongside GJ, maybe. They are both a little fleeting for me
@Bright star I find GJ all or nothing, I have three of her and they are the same. I must grow Scepter’d Isle. So many people rate as an unfussy, reliable rose
In my experience of visiting dozens of gardens, it seems that the perfume of old roses can't be beat. Or is that little unfair on modern roses
@Jason-3 Gertrude Jekyll, Mum in a Million, Sandringham
I wouldn't grow GJ or MiaM without the fragrance. Sandringham, I have mixed feelings at the moment, it is a very pretty rose but I have it in partial shade and it isn't happy. I also keep Just Joey just for the fragrance but most probably, it will go after this season. Scepter'd Isle is also in the danger of being shovel-pruned. Minerva, pictured above, is also very fragrant.
I agree on all your points on Harlow Carr @Jason-3 - been meaning to get rid of it for ages! GJ, for me, has the most fabulous first flush and great scent, but then it’s pretty much all over after that!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I walked passed a Gertrude Jekyll this afternoon. I haven’t actually seen her in the flesh before. Really great scent.
I’ll have to wait til I’ve sniffed all of mine again to choose favourites. But I definitely really liked Royal Jubilee’s fruit scent last year. Mortimer Sackler may have been my favourite though as it wafted, was really strong and just a beautiful scent. The Generous Gardener smelled very similar but just not as strong.
GG was a, “oh that’s nice” rather than a “wow!”
Part of that could just be that Mortimer was by my front door, so I passed it every morning. Whereas GG was in the back garden and maybe I was smelling at different times of the day so it wasn’t a fair comparison.
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My most scented roses are GJ of course, Etoile du Hollande, Royal William, Winchester Cathedral, Margaret Merrill and Isaphan.
Re Harlow Carr I actually dislike this rose its droopy, has weak spindle like growth and is a prickly little so and so. It does have wonderful scent for me. I grow MW alongside GJ, maybe. They are both a little fleeting for me
@Bright star
I find GJ all or nothing, I have three of her and they are the same. I must grow Scepter’d Isle. So many people rate as an unfussy, reliable rose
In my experience of visiting dozens of gardens, it seems that the perfume of old roses can't be beat. Or is that little unfair on modern roses
I’ll have to wait til I’ve sniffed all of mine again to choose favourites. But I definitely really liked Royal Jubilee’s fruit scent last year. Mortimer Sackler may have been my favourite though as it wafted, was really strong and just a beautiful scent. The Generous Gardener smelled very similar but just not as strong.
Part of that could just be that Mortimer was by my front door, so I passed it every morning. Whereas GG was in the back garden and maybe I was smelling at different times of the day so it wasn’t a fair comparison.