Perfume Delight was my most disaterous rose. Not only was it an underperformer (both of them), I could not get the Blackspot under control Not all the sprays in Christendom could keep leaves on it. It became a source of disease for roses growing around them... radiating zones of leaflessness. When I finally saw the light (through the leafless rose canes) and shovelpruned the offending Perfume Delights, the neighborhood improved and their neighbor roses kept their leaves with moderate BS spray regimes.

I agree it has to do with how sensitive your nose is and a lot to do with humidity. What you smell is oils in the rose. That is where rose essential oils come from. This explains why Bulgarian Rose Oil, Turkish Rose Oil and Damask rose oils smell distinctly different because they use different varieties under different climate conditions. In very dry climates these evaporate very quickly. This is why the strongest smell is in the morning before the roses fully open to the sun. If it rains hard the oils can be washed out or weighed down by the water droplets and less likely to be in the air where you can smell them. Similarly, it is not unusual for the first few flowers in spring to have less fragrance for me. Also, different noses are sensitive to different scents and the combination of chemicals in the oils produced by different roses are different. Some lemony and some fruity. I can hold a bottle of Jo Malone Lime Blossom perfume to my gf mother's nose and she smells nothing at all, but I think it smells so nice. Also, I have had roses that took a few years to become fragrant (PAOK). I think often time gardeners are not patient enough to wait through the Sleep, Creep, and Leap of a rose growth cycle for a new plant to get really established. During this time the fragrance is more likely to come and go. During this time I think the color and bloom form can be inconsistent too. In other words they produced more oils more consistently as they became more vigorous. I just planted a climbing Peace rose and have been warned by many that this rose takes 4 years to really flower. 4 YEARS! But I am willing to wait. Here in Texas the humidity on hot days carries more fragrance then if we were in a high dry dessert area at the same temperature. Hybrid teas love our climate, which makes them easier to grow here and many are intensely fragrant. Interestingly if you put some cut roses in a warm water and cover them under glass (like in an apothecary vase) for about 30 minutes the fragrance will really intensify. The oils evaporate in the warm water, condense on the glass and then collect on the water surface. Because the water provides a larger surface area you can smell the collected oils better. If you do this you can sometimes even smell roses that you thought were completely scentless. I learned this from another poster mariannese. It is easy to do and you can buy these jars at Michael's or World Market or Target. In short I think there are a bunch of factors. I smelled Intrigue in many stores and greenhouses and got little sent, but then took a gamble on 5$ plant at Walmart base on online comments on the garden forum and, OMG, it is amazing. I have learned a lot about fragrance and fragrant roses from roseseek as well.

My rose list (badly) needs updating. At a guess I would say that my single biggest group are the Gallicas, possibly followed by Teas. I haven't got my ground in good enough shape for the latter to do well, but the once-blooming old roses of European origin are the best suited to our conditions, and of those the Gallicas are the largest class. So I have a lot of once-blooming old roses (Gallicas, Damasks, Albas, Centifolias, Mosses), which I love and which do well here, a lot of Teas and also Chinas, which I'm working to make the environment friendlier for, mainly lightening the soil. Quite a few ramblers, Multiflora, Wichuriana, species and hybrids, Noisettes, Lady Banks roses. A few 'Mlle. Cecile Brunner'-type old Polyanthas, a few Foetidas, and I wish I had more of both. Rugosas don't like it here, and I have my doubts about Spinosissimas; few HTs, no Floribundas, not because I reject them out of hand, but because I think conditions here aren't ready for them. Oh, I forgot: Bourbons, Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid Damasks. I have a few of the first, more of the second, and I like the HDs. These are heterogenous groups I don't know that much about, but there are some I like and I'm trying to figure out which ones. I have many of the Pemberton Hybrid Musks, which I love but don't grow well, and a few shrub roses, a group I don't know much about and haven't seen much of that was inspiring. Oh: practically no Austins. They're beautiful roses but it's too rough here for them.

That's a lovely rose, Sara, gorgeous enough to ignore its lack of bloom abundance. As Francis grows and matures he will bloom more, I'm sure. For now, just enjoy the beauty. Patty, Mother of Pearl is a great rose out here--one I always comment on when visiting a friend who grows this rose. I think you made a good choice. Diane