Jim, my Ash Wednesday is an own-root from Sequoia bought last fall. It seems pretty vigorous to me. It is even sending up a nice large basal. I've been feeding all of my newly planted roses with Alaska. The only own-root I have that is really doing awful is Distant Drums. I also planted it last Fall. Does it need some time? It is really pathetic looking compared to all my other ones planted at the same time. I am able to buy it grafted very close to me at Raft Island Roses. Do I need to be patient or is it a better rose grafted? I am seriously thinking about switching it. It, so far, has done nothing. I'm not sure where Raft Island gets theirs from. A lot of their roses are from Hortico. I bought a Hortico grafted Cafe there last year that is doing wonderful. Another odd color Kordes. They have Magenta too........

I saw Aschermittwoch (aka Ash Wednesday) growing at Eurodesert in 2011. The flowers appeared quite grey to me, very unusual. It's a climber. My mother used to grow the hybrid tea Blue Girl. Its flowers were a silvery lavender. As best I recall it was fairly healthy in this area (and was grown near our horses and thus never got sprayed like many of my mother's other roses), but I don't know how it would fare elsewhere. The plan you have for your cat sounds lovely. I do similar things when a much-loved pet dies. When my little dog Scarlet died, I planted Scarlet Moss and Rosa canina Laxa (the dog rose) on her grave. I lost my beloved Kuvasz Magda in February and redid a whole section of the yard in her favorite colors and dedicated it to her. Melissa Here is a link that might be useful: Aschermittwoch

This is from an [old post,[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/nearly-lost-this-one-most-fragrant-votes-2005-06-dsvw-vd~1719150?n=7) which I found interesting and helpful. Houzz sometimes deletes old posts, so I will copy it here. Since this was from 2007, I wonder if this opinion pole were repeated today, how it would be different. Posted by jpw_chi 5b Chicago, IL (My Page) on Mon, Nov 12, 07 at 13:47 Due to hard drive crashes, I nearly lost this list. Thanks to a thoughtful, wise Gardenweb member who clipped the results, I would have lost voting results to my informal survey of fragrant roses altogether. Counts were based on frequency of being mentioned in response to the question "What is the most incredibly fragrant rose that takes your breath away?" RE: the most incredibly FRAGRANT rose that takes your breath away (Follow-Up #122) 
posted by: jpw_chi on 10.08.2006 at 11:11 am in Roses Forum 
Here's the updated list for "most mentioned" (as opposed to true "favorites") for fragrance, with Double Delight and Mr. Lincoln now in a dead heat: 
 23x Double Delight (creamy white swirled with strawberry red) 
 23x Mr. Lincoln (dark red) 
15x Fragrant Cloud (coral red) 
 13x Chrysler Imperial (burgundy red) 
 13x Gertrude Jekyll (rose pink) 
 13x Jude the Obscure (honey) 
 10x Crimson Glory 
 10x Lemon Spice (pastel yellow tinted pale pink) 
 9x Abraham Darby (Austin, apricot blend) 
 9x Francis Dubruiel (dark true red) 
 9x Papa Meilland (dark red) 
 8x Evelyn (Austin, apricot pink blend) 
 8x Heirloom (dark mauve blend) 
8x Rose de Rescht (vivid fuchsia) 
 8x Secret (white tipped pink) 
8x Sharifa Asma (Austin, pearly pink) 
 8x Sunsprite (bright yellow) 
 8x Sweet Chariot (purple blend) 
 8x Tiffany (pink/yellow blend) 
 7x Angel Face (1968, dusky mauve) 
 7x Melody Parfumee (deep plum fading to clear lavender) 
 7x The McCartney Rose (ruffled, few petals) 
 7x Yves Piaget (Romantica, hot pink) 
6x Granada (yellow, orange, scarlet tricolor) 
 6x Just Joey (clear apricot) 6x Mirandy 
 6x Scentimental (white striped with red) 
 6x Secret Garden Musk Climber 
 6x Zephirine Drouhin (cerise pink) 
5x Blanc Double de Coubert (pure white) 
5x Frederic Mistral (Romantica, light cool pink) 
 5x Heritage (shell pink) 
 5x Intrigue (rich reddish purple) 
 5x Madame Isaac Periere (raspberry pink) 
 5x Memorial Day (lilac pink) 
 5x Oklahoma (dark red) 
 5x Reine des Violettes (cerise pink deepening to soft purple) 
 5x Rouge Royale (Romantica, cherry red) 
 5x Souvenir de la Malmaison 
 5x Sutter's Gold 
 5x Velvet Fragrance 
 5x William Shakespeare 2000 
 4x Alec's Red (1970, subdued red) 
 4x Baronne Prevost (medium pink) 
 4x Blue Girl a/k/a Blue Moon 
 4x Elle 
 4x Full Sail 
4x New Zealand (flesh pink) 
 4x Othello (inconsistent maroon/blue-red color) 
 4x Tamora (Austin, clear apricot) 
 4x The Prince (Austin, imperial purple) 
 4x Tipsy Imperial Concubine (pink blend) 
 4x Yolande D'Aragon (rich rose pink) 
 3x Bella Roma 
3x Buff Beauty (soft apricot yellow) 
3x Cécile Brunner 
 3x Compt de Chambourd (lilac pink) 
 3x Darlow's Enigma (pure white) 
 3x Distant Drums (mauve blend) 
 3x Falstaff (raspberry red) 
 3x Fragrant Memory a/k/a Jadis 
 3x Fragrant Plum 
 3x Golden Zest 
 3x Jardins de Bagatelle (creamy white edged pale pink) 
 3x La Reine Victoria (dusty pink) 
3x Louise Odier (medium pink) 
 3x Madame Hardy (snowy white) 
 3x Perfume Delight 
 3x Radiance (pink blend) 
 3x Red Radiance (HT) 3x Royal Highness 
 3x Scentsational (clear mauve tinted orchid pink) 
 3x Sheer Bliss 
 3x Silver Shadows (pale silvery lavender) 
 3x Sombreuil (creamy white) 
 3x Sonia Rkyiel (soft coral pink) 
 3x Veteran's Honor 
 2x Apothecary Rose 
 2x Barbara Streisand 
 2x Belle de Crecy (cool medium pink) 
 2x Blossomtime 
 2x Bubble Bath (light pink) 
 2x Celsiana (light pink) 
 2x Clothilde Soupert (blush white with soft pink center) 
 2x Compassion (salmon pink) 
 2x Dainty Bess 
 2x Dolly Parton (garish orange red) 
 2x Dublin (MD) 
2x Earth Song (rose pink) 
 2x Eglantyne (Austin, clear porcelain pink) 
 2x Eugene de Beauharnais (crimson purple) 
 2x Felicia 2x Felicite Parmentier (light pink) 
 2x Fisherman's Friend (violent magenta) 
 2x Fragrant Hour 
2x Halloween (soft orange) 
 2x Harrison's Yellow (bright yellow) 
 2x Hot Tamale 
 2x Jaune Desprez (buff apricot) 
 2x Julia's Rose 
 2x Konigan von Danemark (pink blend) 
 2x Lady Hillingdon (egg yolk yellow) 
 2x Lagerfeld (silvery lavender) 
 2x Love Potion (florabunda) 
2x Lyda Rose 
 2x Madame Alfred Carrier (blush white) 
 2x Madame Pierre Oger (soft white tipped lilac pink) 
 2x Maria Shriver 
2 x Marie Pavie (ivory white) 
 2x Midnight Blue 
 2x Mrs B.R. Cant 
 2x Neptune 
 2x Peace 
 2x Petite de Hollande (medium pink) 
 2x Pure Perfume 
 2x Radiant Perfume 2x Rosa foetida 
 2x Sheila's Perfume 
 2x Shocking Blue 
 2x Sophy's Perpetual (pink blend) 
 2x St. Swithun (Austin, soft warm pink blend) 
 2x Star Of The Nile 
 2x Sterling Silver 
2x Sunday Lemonade 
 2x Thanksgiving 
 2x Topaz Jewel (yellow)

Some bouquets of fragrant roses bought from Roses Unlimited. My all-time favorites from RU are: Sonia Rykiel (a dozen blooms per flush in 1st year as own-root), Versigny (the scent is worth buying), Poseidon (going to frost with 30+ buds), Summer Sun (compact & small for a Kordes rose), Savannah (non-stop blooming), Pink Peace (great for the vase), Sweet Mademoiselle and Firefighter (both last 5 days in the vase), Betty White, Twilight Zone, About Face, Liv Tyler, and many Austins that RU sold before 2021. Below upper pink is Sonia Rykiel, dark red is the Dark Lady (from RU): Below dark red is Munstead Wood, and and orange About Face, red is Firefighter. Below orange is America, light pinks are Gene Boerner (thornless), and blue is Poseidon. Big red is Peter Mayle (survives 5+ years in my zone 5a winter): Below yellows are Moonlight Romantica (smells just as good as Golden Cel). Upper light pinks are Princess Charlene de Monaco (now 10' x 3') needs space. Blue is Poseidon lasts 5 days. Below deep oranges are Sweet Mademoiselle, light left pink is Savannah, and reds are the Dark Lady (going into Nov. frost with many buds): Below bouquet is picked Oct. 29, 2023 before frost. Red is Veteran's Honor. Pink is Radio Times, white is Bolero, dark pink is Dee-lish, and dark red is the Dark Lady. All are from Roses Unlimited. Below large dark pink is Peter Mayle (eucalytus rose scent, so unique), light pinks are Evelyn, deep pink is Comte de Chambord, gaudy orange is Solitude (worth having for hot summer). Liv Tyler (right deep pink) never ball like Sweet Mademoiselle, Liv Tyler gives twice more blooms than Sweet M. Left dark pink is Pink Peace (worth buying with its buttercream frosting scent). Right light pink is Frederic Mistral (petals get spoiled often in rainy climate, worse than Betty White) Below was Liv Tyler in my garden at above 90 F, it's best for hot climate.