I ended up getting a Teddy Bear Magnolia grandiflora. Turns out that there really wasn't a whole lot of choice on the availability here in Central AR. Everyone was selling the same cultivars! I could have gotten a Cynthia Wannamaker, as one different one, and the people selling that really noticed the fragrance when planting it. Pat McCraken recommended Kay Parris, but, again, it is not readily available. She said the flowers were large, like Little Gem, which was confusing to me because I thought Little Gem flowers were on the small side. But, she really recommended Magnolia virginnica (sp?), and I think that's got small flowers, so maybe that was the comparison. Does anyone know if Magnolia virginnica smells like Magnolia grandiflora - same quality of fragrance? I visited a botanical garden in PA one time, and there were some magnolias I don't remember the species of (not grandiflora) that I thought smelled pretty bad. Hopefully the Teddy Bear will have flowers that are larger than Little Gem, and hopefully it will flower for a long time. Otherwise, I could have just gotten a Little Gem which is available. I am happy to see the discussion here, too. I was hoping someone who has the room and has multiple cultivars in it would be able to compare and contrast the various ones. It is really hard to shop for a mag grand. No one is familiar with more than one or two cultivars, and most are not familiar with any cultivar in terms of fragrance, bloom size, bloom length, etc.

Butterfly, your post reminded me of another option I had forgotten about--wild clematis, Clematis virginiana, called virgin's bower. It's a good substitute for honesuckle although it blooms in Aug. not June. My cousin has it growing on the trellis, and my neighbor has it growing up against a fence. I don't know where I can find it to buy, but maybe my neighbor will let me take cuttings. I tried to sprout some cuttings of my cousin's plant but it didn't work. I know what you mean about honeysuckle, it does smell fabulous--many of my summer memories are of "honeysuckle days." But I work in the natural resources field and I have spent too much time of my life hacking the stuff off of trees I was trying to get going and wading through it in the forests, to ever willingly plant it! Same goes for russian olive! Your yard is a clone of mine Butterfly! Row house, narrow yard, ugly chain link fence, neighbors with decks looking down on me!! I'm doing pretty good at hiding the chain link fence, except in this one area I'm talking about. I also need to hide my compost bin, or distract people's eyes from its big ugly blackness. What can I say, it was free from the city and I have a limited income!

Thank you all for very interesting responses. Nik, the musk hybrid, Nastarana, and the few noisettes that I have tried did not survive our winters with the exception of Bush Noisette so I got that last year. I like the jasmines too but have only one as a pot pet, the Sambac. After all I need it for tea. Jeri, it was my impression too that there might be no red wafters. I am happy to be disabused. Molly, wonderful that Nur Mahal wafts! Thank you for that information. Melissa, intriguing that two red wafters are Chateau de Clos Vougeot progeny. IRRC CdCV is a weak (or difficult) grower. What a pity. Still, it might have something to offer a breeding program. John, delighted to hear from you that Etoile de Holland wafts. It is one of my recent acquisitions. Kelly, I saw a photo of Dark Desire recently. With looks and wafting both, it may be in my future. I have Nahema and love it. The information on Jubilee Celebration was unexpected and appreciated. Marlorena, Molly, Ingrid and Portland, I got Blush Noisette recently. Thank you for that vote. For some reason I did not like the scent of Marie Pavie. Probably my fault, not hers. I hope I have not missed anyone. This was a fun and informative thread for me. Thank you all again.

I don't have any advice on the plant, but do have a bit of advice on using Houzz/Garden Web. When you crosspost to several forums, it doesn't show up on the Garden Web forums for those of us who enter from the Garden Web side of things, a remnant of old programming. So those who come from the GW side, including many quite experienced shrub growers, aren't seeing this when they look at the shrub forum - it doesn't show up in the list of posts at all. You might want to go to the shrub forum using this green link and post just there. It will show up twice for those entering from the Houzz side, but at least everyone can see it. I only saw this because it is also on the Landscape Design forum which the Houzz folks reprogrammed to show xpostings. I have sent them notification of this issue but haven't seen any change.