EvS isn't totally without prickles. Just so you aren't surprised.

Felicia, is basically thornless. Also the most fragrant.
Olga

Hello Lass,

HMF says that Gartendirektor Otto Linne is "Armed with thorns." I once wanted that one too, before reading that. Maybe it's not too late to change your order?

Best wishes,
Mary

Otto is going on the corner. If he has thorns, I'll plant him further out from the house. My biggest concern is the area around the porch...it has to be painted a lot more often (old wood and all). I saw a picture of Otto as a climber down in California and he was beautiful, although I doubt he'll get that big in my area. I really like the little pink blossoms and it's supposed to bloom well in warm summers. I guess I'll chance it :)

I love the HMs and this spring ordered every one Vintage Gardens had that I didn't already have. Many are fragrant, most have few thorns, most re-bloom very well and most tolerate a fair bit of shade. Also, they are relatively deer resistant. EvS is extremely fragrant.

Prosperity looked like a HT? It has never occurred to me and I have been growing that rose for about five years. It is one of the most shade tolerant HMs with excellent repest still the most spotless (no blackspot); the white frgrant blooms glow in afternoon and evening and the plant has beautiful foliage. It is wrapped around an obelisk and I grow a dark purple clematis with it. I love it.
Felicia is the most fragrant, Olga is right, but it gets some blackspot even in full sun.

Buff Beauty gets sun on an off, it got huge, I trained it on a smaller wagon wheel. I love the apricot/peach blooms. The plant has thorns but nothing compared to New Dawn or some well know monsters.

The Hybrid Musks are one of my favorite classes and I can't praise them too highly. They're everything I want in a rose: graceful habit, beautiful flowers, foliage, canes; FRAGRANT; many of them have hips; healthy and easy to grow. I'm speaking principally of the Pemberton musks: like catsrose I collect them. My favorites are 'Cornelia' and 'Francesca' (the latter wouldn't do for your case, as she's thorny and I suspect rather tender), and though somehow I've never been able to get hold of 'Kathleen', every time I see a plant of her I think, What a beauty! My chief problem is that they don't like my hot, sunny, windy garden; the shade garden isn't big enough to accommodate all the Hybrid Musks and Gallicas I'd like to grow.
Melissa

For me, the hybrid musks haven't been all that fragrant (Buff Beauty, Lavendar Lassie, Darlow's Engima; although Erfurt, to me, is fragrant).

How about Reine des Violettes?

I've had two Otto's for probably over 15 years. I LOVE OTTO!!!

In coastal SoCal he is resistant to rust and 95% to mildew which is a HUGE achievement for any rose around here. I just get some on the ends every great once in awhile during the season, not enough for me to care or bother about.

In sandy soil, he got around 4' with a 6' cane or two. Now, in amended clay, he is usually about 6' with canes up to, I dunno, maybe 10'. I have him (them? ;-) trained on trellises. If I wanted to cut the long canes down, I could but prefer to train them horizontally instead. If you want a lot of blooms, I prune the side shoots on the long canes down to three buds or so as you would a climber. Fyi, he is in a 4' deep bed by the driveway so I just prune him so he's left to right instead of round. He also holds onto the flowers for awhile, but a gloved hand can 'shave' them off when they dry up. You do need gloves, I'm not outside to double check, but he does have some thorns, and the leaflets have prickles on them - I wouldn't call him nasty in the regard but he is not thornless.

Now the good part, easily 2,000 blooms (each) on the plants in spring, of course that much effort requires some recovery but he does repeat throughout the year but not like the first flush.

Fragrance, I do smell him, especially the first flush. Also if I stick my nose in a spray. He's cute in a vase and won't fill a room, but I can absolutely smell him as I walk by. I hope that you come to love him as much as I do, wherever you put him.

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I'm so glad EvS and Otto have worked out well for some of you and they have a nice fragrance! Those are the two I'm most excited about trying in the front bed. I think the Bleu Magenta rambler is also going to be fun, but I'm putting that one on an arch in the fairy garden. These little blossomed roses are just so darn cute and make a nice contrast to the bigger blooms :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Bleu Magenta