campv: Stark's have a dwarf 'Hardy Giant' Asian pear dwarf supreme that they list as disease resistant. They say their other varieties of Asian pears are not disease resistant. Do you remember the name of the Asian pear that you have there? The pics of the 'Hardy Giant' show quite large pears but I'd expect them to be smaller here for us. fruitnut: I wonder if Stark's 'Hardy Giant'is similar to your Korean Giant or Olympic? I'd prefer firm/crunchy as opposed to juicy also!

It's hard for me to say, since very few roses I planted AREN'T fragrant. When I was selecting roses, scent was the first thing I searched, though there's a handful I picked for other reasons and which aren't particularly fragrant. Consequently, I can't easily pick "the most fragrant" out of what I grow. Every time I think "oh, this one" I realize that it was just the most recent to bloom. What I have noticed among my pot-pet red HTs is that those I have which are descended from 'Crimson Glory' are particularly wonderful, and have only subtle variations on the same scent, which matches that of 'Crimson Glory' -- 'Big Ben', 'Chrysler Imperial', 'Heart's Desire', 'Mirandy', 'Mister Lincoln', 'Nocturne', 'Oklahoma', 'Red Masterpiece', 'Rose of Freedom' and 'Velvet Fragrance'. 'Orfeo' is a climber I have trained into a hacked-back Callery pear (and it has canes nearing 20' long going up into the tree now), and it, too, smells just like its grandparent 'Crimson Glory'. It's the only one of the "family" I have planted in the ground, with one white and one lavender-blue clematis using it as a trellis to get into the tree. I can't wait for next year -- this year, 'Orfeo' bloomed a little for the first time since I planted it last year, so I expect a show in its third year. Of the most fragrant OGRs, I'd be naming the usual suspects as the most fragrant of what I have from their groups -- three of my Bourbons ('Mme de Sevigne', 'Mme Dore', and 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau'), six of my HPs ('Georg Arends ', "Grandmother's Hat", 'Monsieur Boncenne', 'Pierre Notting', 'Reine des Violettes' and 'Yolande d'Aragon'), both of my Damasks ('Botzaris' and 'Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseaux'), three of my Damask Perpetuals ('Indigo', 'Rose de Rescht' and 'Rose du Roi, original'), one of the Gallicas ('Georges Vibert'), both Hybrid Chinas ('Duchesse d'Angouleme' and 'Nouveau Monde'), and, of course, 'Rosa moschata' in its single-form, as well as "Secret Garden Musk Climber" (if you count that as an OGR). Of the Austin roses, I'd give the awards to 'Abraham Darby', 'Golden Celebration', 'Jude the Obscure', 'Prospero', 'Tamora' and 'The Prince'. That leaves 'Happy Child' as the only Austin I have which is not mentioned -- but this came as a band this year, and I've been pinching buds until recently, so can't really offer an opinion. Interestingly, the roses whose fragrance carries the farthest (i.e. "wafters") tend to be less intensely scented up-close (except, perhaps, for 'R. moschata' and "Secret Garden Musk Climber", which succeed at both). The winners here would be mostly Multiflora-derived (and my handful of Moschata-derived): 'Bubble Bath', 'Clotilde Soupert', "Darlow's Enigma", 'Marie Pavie', 'Mlle Blanche Lafitte', 'Perle d'Or', 'Reverend Seidel', 'Rosa moschata', and "Secret Garden Musk Climber". This was the second year in the ground for most of my roses, and already the yard was full of yummy scent in May and June. Supporting the roses was a small cast of scented Dianthus which mostly bloomed at the same time. Unfortunately, July and August here was not as knock-your-socks-off, so I have 25 each of mixed Oriental, Trumpet and Orienpet lilies coming with a bulb order in a few weeks which will perfume the yard until the roses rebound from their mid-summer sleep. And various stinky self-seeding annuals will be filling in the gaps. :-) ~Christopher

Gardenias are only difficult to grow in climates with dry air, especially dry climates that are very hot and sunny. I think it would grow better in Southern California if it were put inside a humid greenhouse during the Summer. The fruit of Quince is fragrant too, the most wonderful smell, very floral and almost a hint of violets. There's a particular odor within the aroma that is one of the elements in the smell of pears, I can pick up on, but the overall fragrance is definitely not like pears. I am talking about fruiting quince (Cydonia oblonga), not ornamental flowering quince. Some people used to leave a basket of quince in the kitchen to make things smell nicer, or even hang quince in the closet. I think grapefruit is very fragrant too, as well as Bergamot Orange (not really good for eating though). If you live further north you can grow Yuzu.

" M. Karl Koch, in a recent lecture on fruit-trees, says he has heard in the East that some of our races of dessert Pears have descended from a hybrid or hybrids obtained between the Pear and the Quince—both of which fruits are much more variable than is generally supposed—from the latter of which they have obtained flavor and aroma. Some kind of Pears now grown closely resemble the Quince in shape, colour, and peculiarly long calyx-lobes, as well as aroma and flavor ; and that such hybridity is not improbable may to a certain extent be assumed, seeing that some races of Pear show a marked preference for the Quince stock, while others succeed only on the free stock or Pear. " " Thus it is a well-known fact that some varieties of Pear will not unite readily with the Quince or Hawthorn stocks, and this difficulty is surmounted by the use of 'intermediate' stocks. The Quince is grafted with the scion of a Pear which is known to unite readily and succeed well on it as a stock, and on this is worked the variety of Pear which refuses to unite well with the Quince. […] and we have many records of Pears being altered in size, colour, flavour, and time of ripening, owing to their having been grafted on the Quince stock. " Cultivated Plants: Their Propagation and Improvement, p600, signed and dated by the author, F. W. Burbidge in the year 1888 (yes, this book is very old)