Hi, Ann Helen. I received your nice email from the GardenWeb system, but when I tried to respond to your question, the email was retuned undeliverable. So, below is my response to you.

Hi, Ann. Nice to get your email. I hear you about the thin skin! I'm 56 now and, like you, I can tell my skin is much easier now to get scratched from roses than it used to.

Similar to you, I've had the best luck with roses from The Antique Rose Emporium. One trip to that place on a nice spring day and you'll be hooked for life. Like heaven on earth for an "old rose" lover.

To answer your question, it's been difficult to find a low-thorned rose that also has great fragrance, but one that does both and does them well is 'Basye's Blueberry'. It is a rare rose in that it's 100% thornless AND has great fragrance. It's blooms are single-type blooms so look more like a wild rose and are not good for cutting and putting in a vase. But the medium pink color is a perfect shade and the center stamens are the most wonderful contrasting yellow that you could imagine. You can't help but be happy when looking at the plant in bloom. That rose was bred here in Texas, which makes it extra special to me.

Another one that does surprisingly well for me is 'Reine des Violettes'. This old girl from the year 1860 is a treasure in my garden. She takes a couple years to get established and needs good soil preparation before planting, but she's worth it. Fully-double blooms of unique and beautiful color with a consistent and powerful "old-rose" scent. And it's almost completely thornless IF you order it from The Antique Rose Emporium, because they sell the real deal. Other vendors sometimes sell a thorny impostor.

Gruss an Aachen is not thornless, but it is relatively "low-thorned" compared to your average rose. There's a reason I have five specimens of this rose growing in my garden ... it's a very manageable size and I love the natural shape of the plant. The blooms are fully-double and soft and interesting in color. The scent depends upon the weather and the stage of the bloom opening. Sometimes I can't smell anything from it and at other times I'll walk out onto the patio and a breeze will hit me with the most perfect of fragrances. When I track down the source, it's Gruss an Aachen.

Marie Pavie and Marie Daly are two great nearly thornless roses that I wouldn't be without. And they have excellent fragrance. Extremely mannerly plant habit too. Beautiful, wider than tall, bushy habit, like a anti-hybrid tea rose. Blooms are very short-lived but there's a steady stream of new ones. It helps to lightly sheer the plant after bloom cycles during the blooming season to rid yourself of the spent blooms and therefore keep the plant more tidy looking.

Hope that helps.

Take care,

Randy