Myrrh fragrance: you either like it or you hate it. I've had Glamis Castle in the past and while it was a very hardy, floriferous little rose, I couldn't stand the fragrance. No, it doesn't mature into something lovely. If you don't like it now, you won't like it a year from now, or two. Now you know: beware of David Austin roses that say they have "Myrrh fragrance." He has quite a few.

As to no fragrance at all, some of the time, that is quite normal for many roses. A rose's fragrance is in the oils and they can evaporate on a hot or windy day quite quickly. If you think there is no scent, try sniffing again at a different time of day. (Usually morning is best.)

You've confirmed what I suspected. I have Mayor of Castorbridge and Pretty Jessica, and they both have wonderful strong "rose" scents. Also "Tranquility" (one of Heirloom's own roses), is described as having a "Myrrh" scent, but to me it smells deliciously anise-like, while Glamis Castle just smells like...an old Gym Bag. Even in the morning, the scent is slight, at best (although, considering the unplseantness of the scent, I suppose that's a good thing). How disappointing!

I had the same issue with Tamora. Fairly decent rose but I couldn't stand the smell. I shoveled her.

I hesitate to post this, but I think Mystic Beauty (a sport of Souvenir de la Malmaison) does not smell good, either. She does not exactly stink, but in no way equals my Sunsprite, Bella Donna or Rose de Rescht. Beautiful color and form, though.

I have Glamis Castle, and was hesitant to get it because I heard it has a bad scent...but it really doesn't bother me at all. There's a lot of scents that I can't even detect, but the Myrrh scent smells ok to me. I must be one of the oddballs :)

Tammy

I like the myrrh scent. I have a other roses like Fair Bianca and Tamora that have it. Some are a sweeter than others. To me, Tamora smells like salt water taffy. I two GC in pots and they bloom a lot and the scent doesn't bother me. But it's very subjective.

I had Glamis Castle and liked the scent and flowers (didn't like its thorny bare legs and otherwise awkward growth that every Austin I've tried thus far has here). Its scent took me back to the 1960's when there was a popular moisturizing cream with a scent like that (whose name I cannot think of for the life of me, though I have tried many times).

Scent detection and description depend very much on the individual, it seems. I can't smell many teas, ever, whose scents are described as "strong".

~Debbie

I belong to a camp of myrrh scent lovers. To me this fragrance is very pleasant. Don't grow GC, because it BSs badly here, but LOVE fragance of Tamora, Star of the Nile, Constance Spry and other myrrh scented roses.
Olga

Someone once wrote that Glamis Castle smells like a diaper pail and I'm not inclined to disagree. I'm not sure that it's just the myrrh scent since I've smelled other roses that had that fragrance and it didn't bother me. I bought GC from a nursery because the flowers looked so pretty and of course the highly fertilized plant was nice and bushy. It turned into an ugly, gawky and foul-smelling mistake with huge, razor-sharp thorns. I don't think I've ever been more relieved about getting rid of a rose than this one.

Ingrid

I like it myself. It's different and distinctive. I like a variety of scents.

If you want the same look but a sweet citrus-rose fragrance, 'Bolero' aka 'Bolero 2004' is a good substitute, with a lot less prickles (thorns).

Here is a link that might be useful: bolero 2004 @ helpmefind

the 1960's when there was a popular moisturizing cream with a scent like that

Noxema, maybe?

I got a band of GC this spring and it is blooming. I cannot detect a scent but my blooms shatter in two days or less. They sure are pretty though.
Susan

I can't smell Tea roses, either, and I like myrhh fine. It reminds me of old face cream, but not quite Noxema.

It's funny how people smell dirty socks in the scent. I bet that's genetic or something! I can't stand the smell of cantaloupe, and there's no way I'm smelling the same thing my sister smells (she loves it and its scent). I can't even stomach it.

It's good to know about myrrh for us who think it smells pleasant. I definitely don't put roses with that scent up at the front door, etc. My boxwoods already give off a cat-pee scent of their own to many people!

As Meredith notes, an old face cream, but not quite Noxema, Hoovb. (I'm quite familiar with THAT one. My cousin, actively in pursuit of a husband around that time, used boatloads!) Someday, somewhere, I'll come across that name...
~Debbie

The owner of Heirloom roses loved Myrrh scent and so wrote his descriptions accordingly. I'm not a big Myrrh lover and it reminds me of overly strong bouquet of Paperwhite Narcissus in a car or some other small space.

I do like Myrrh when it's a small accent supporting other sweet rose or fruity scents as in Jude the Obscure. Glamis is all Myrrh. One way to tone down the fragrance is to grow the plants in late afternoon sun. I've got a section of garden reserved for Myrrh babies. I love the blossoms but they don't come in the house.

At my garage sale, a lady smelled Ambridge rose and said it smelled like a really expensive perfume she gets for her birthday from Nordstroms. That has about as much Myrrh as I can do.

Cymbaline which is new here this year is supposed to smell of myrrh. If I had known, I would not have bought it as I am not a fan. The peculiar thing is the first day open the blossom stank (apologies to myrrh lovers) but the next day the scent was enchanting. Now that is subjective - from one day to the next. I have not had a chance for further testing.

Cath

My cousin, actively in pursuit of a husband around that time, used boatloads!

Did it work? :^)

Glad to know Jude the Obscure is not overpoweringly myrrh. I've been thinking about adding him to my garden but was worried about his "odor." ;)

A diaper pail, Ingrid? That is too funny. Someone else on Gardenweb posted that Gentle Hermione smelled like baby poop. I decided to give that rose a wide berth. Perhaps they are related?

Some years ago I went to the Huntington and smelled many of the roses in bloom. I made comments on some that stood out, particularly good or bad. Now I have never smelled, by itself, myrrh, but there were Austins which were described as having that scent and I tended not to like them. I wrote the label "stinks" by these Austins: Mary Rose, Symphony, and Fair Bianca. While I particularly liked the scents of Gertrude Jekyll, Pretty Jessica, Admired Miranda, and The Countryman. Some other roses also received the "stinks" designation: Enfant de France, Katherine Zeimet, and Boule de Niege. Boule de Niege didn't have the same stinkiness as the others however. To me it had the unpleasant aroma of sweaty gym shoes. Such a pretty thing though, and it received so many high praises from others that I thought surely I was mistaken. So I bought it at a Huntington plant sale and brought it home. Grew beautifully in my garden, with lots of leaves and many charming white, moderately-sized flowers. But alas, the stinky gym shoe fragrance is what this plant produced. I learned it was best only to admire from a distance and to avoid taking a whiff.

Noxzema as a matchmaker? Who knew!

Melissa

Yes, hoovb and Melissa, Noxzema no doubt helped (well, that and losing 50 lbs, which were all gained back, and way more, after the wedding). Ended up marrying the deputy sheriff (yes, one deputy sheriff for, like, half the county -- very small town). ;-)

~Debbie

Could the face cream that no one can remember be Pond's? That was sold everywhere and I remember I used it as a teenager. Now I don't know if it's still available.

Too funny about the cousin with the weight loss and the subsequent gain. I hope her hubby is amused too....

Ingrid

I think it could be Ponds. It was in a white jar, and my grandmother used it -- she was a young and cool grandmom, but still, it's been a while :D.

Vanilla is supposed to be attractive to men. It mimics pheremones. This was actually proved in a scientific study.

I was thinking of the lotion called Jergens. I always hated that smell, even as a child when I knew it was supposed to smell good to people.

I have Glamis Castle and while I can't say that I enjoy its smell, I can also say that it never reminded me of dirty socks or gym bags or diaper pales. Too funny. I'll have to see if those suggestions ring true now when I smell it from now on. I've just thought of it as very exotic. Too exotic for me.

I have The Wife of Bath, which is also a myrrh scent but I like it much better than Glamis Castle.

Annabeth

Well...the final verdict is in. I was at Heirloom Roses today, and paid a visit to several bushes of Glamis Castle, and all of the flowers on all of the bushes stank to high heaven. Just to be fair, I made a comparison by smelling St. Swithun's flowers as well, since that rose also has a Myrrh scent: they smelled delicious, and in fact, I've enjoyed the scent of that rose before. Why on earth have I never planted it? I then asked my friend, who had never seen that rose before, and to whom I gave NO warning, to take a sniff. She immediately recoiled in horror. I'll refrain form spelling out her description of the scent, but I do wish you could have seen the expression on her face. We both had to rush over to Mme. Isaac Pereire to get the smell out of our nostrils...

Thank you zjw for the report. I think I will be surprised if Heirloom ever sells out of el stinko Glamis Castle.

I now know what myrrh really does smell like. Did some poking around on the web and found out myrrh is used in ayurveda. One of my neighbors is an ayurvedic practitioner. So today I asked her if she had any myrrh. She did in a bottle. I smelled it in the bottle and she put a drop on my wrist. It's quite strong and resinous, but I rather liked it. It is not however the unusual scent that Fair Bianca, Symphony, and Mary Rose had in common that I didn't like at all. I still don't know what THAT distinctive aroma is.

Melissa