I concur: La Reine has a superb fragrance.
It also grows quite tall in my garden.

Abraham Darby, such an ugly, awkward bush, to me has the most beautiful fragrance, and beautiful roses.

Mine are all still babies, but I noticed a particularly strong and wonderful fragrance from 'Georg Arends'. 'Rosa moschata' was also strong, but more of a clove scent.

:-)

~Christopher

Sharifa Asma, Jude the Obscure, and Reines des Violettes so far, though I excitedly await the first blooms of Anna de Diesbach and William Lobb.

You guys have now piqued my interest about La Marne....

Josh

Twilight Zone has a spicy clove scent...reminds me of a Turkish Bazaar...
I could walk around with my nose buried in Nur Mahal or Felicia.
I've yet to sniff an HP, Portland, Bourbon or Damask...but I'm hoping to sniff many come Spring.
My La Reine has remained "one cane La Reine" for over a year. It's stunted...something is wrong...guess I will have to get another one...
Susan

Well, if we're going to throw moderns into the mix, then I'll also mention some others which surprised me with the strength of their fragrance:

'Heirloom'
'Lagerfeld'
'Lemon Spice'
'Mirandy'
'Night' (aka 'Lady Sackville')
'Nigrette'
'Oklahoma'

I'm not knocking the others in my inventory which are touted as being very fragrant, but many had only a flower or two before I kept them disbudded. Most of what I got smell very nice, but the two OGRs I previously mentioned and the HTs above were among the ones I let bloom whenever they wanted, and I thoroughly enjoyed sniffing them.

I still think there's something extra-strong about the scent of 'Georg Arends' -- definitely "old rose" but with something else. Perhaps that's the "centifolia scent" which I never smelled before. I'm so glad I picked it up before Vintage closed.

:-)

~Christopher

For pure strength, the single form of R. moschata. On a still, foggy morning, I've smelled it from more than 200 yards from the garden. And on nearly any day, it is the background fragrance throughout the garden.

For quality of fragrance, I think 'Oklahoma' is hard to beat.

A new one for me that I like very much is Velvet Fragrance.

I love La Reine as well and you can make excellent perfumed water with it. Autumn Damask is hard to improve on for pure strong sweet rose fragrance.

I don't have many roses in my garden, but Angel Face is by far my most fragrant, followed by my Bourbon, Mme Isaac Pereire. I am hoping to add La Reine AND Autumn Damask this year.

Kittymoonbeam,

Perfumed water.... Is there a specific recipe or protocol you follow?
I am going to investigate other ways to experience the wonderful fragrance of roses.

Nanadoll, does your Fredric Mistral remain fragrant when it is hot?

Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Tue, Oct 29, 13 at 14:58

Google "rose water" to find out how to make some yourself. You can also put the petals in vodka or vinegar.

:-)

~Christopher

In descending order, to my nose any way, these roses I grow are deliciously fragrant:

Magnificent Perfume--luscious smeller and generous spring and summer bloomer, but it rusts and mildews in a no spray garden.

Jude the Obscure
Lady Emma Hamilton--but her strong citrus scent fades almost completely on the third day as a cut flower.
Memorial Day--grown in about 4hrs of morning sun.
Young Lycidas
Double Delight

Baronne Prevost--phantom scent on her I think, I can't smell it directly off the flower only in the air.

Hard to pick the most fragrant, but Mme Ernest Calvat, Felicite Parmentier, Mme Victor Verdier, Cornelia, Sharifa Asma, Abraham Darby, and Sweet Juliet are very, very fragrant. Used to grow climbing Etoile de Hollande and a single bloom would blow me away every time.

La France and Young Lycidas probably are the most fragrant roses in my garden which boasts of few fragrant roses.

Others that to me are not as strongly fragrant are Souvenir de la Malmaison, Madame Dore and Pretty Jessica.

Ingrid

Devonensis and Evelyn I would say. Also, I love the scent of Mme Joseph Schwartz.

Also, Fragrant Cloud.

Secret Garden Musk Climber -- hands down.

Champney's Pink Cluster. That thing smells amazing no matter the weather.

Most fragrant, as in projects its scent a distance? The polyantha 'Sunshine' (Robichon/Cutbush, 1927). Last weekend, I was out in the backyard part of my garden, and asking myself "What rose am I smelling?". It turned out to be my little bush of 'Sunshine'(about 2 x 2), which was twenty-five feet away in the front-yard part of my garden, and which was spangled with flowers. I did a little testing, and could still detect the scent at 35 feet distance.

A runner-up would be 'Will Scarlet', when it's in full bloom. But I think it's the scent of the pollen one smells in this case.

'Souvenir de la Malmaison' carries its scent quite well, when conditions are right.

'Apricot Nectar' and 'Calico' are two moderns which I've smelled from maybe six or seven feet away.

No contest. Its Mme. Isaac Pereire.

Odinthor, how big does Sunshine get? I love the photos and I am doing polyanthas in the front yard. (most are pink or white but this soft gold would look nice)

I learned to love myrrh fragrance through Ambridge Rose and Sebastian Kneipp. Old rose through Koenigen van Danemark and Felicite Parmentier. Fruity pear fragrance through Creme de la Creme.

I don't have them any more but I also love the raspberry fragrance of Cramoisi Superieur and the sometimes citrus/sometimes pepper fragrance of Spice, the Bermuda mystery rose.

The unopened buds of Duplex have an amazing fruity smell.

When Maggie is in full bloom, the fragrance will waft. Ditto with Marie Pavie. Ebb Tide is also lovely but so far I haven't gotten the number of blooms that I get with the other two. Many other of my roses have a nice fragrance but so far these are the strongest.

Yolande d'Aragon is marvelously fragrant as is Sonia Rykiel. I don't get huge amounts of bloom because my garden is sort of half sun. I know my plants would be more floriferous in a sunnier location.

The wafting scents are wonderful: I got a noseful of 'Cornelia' today while I was cleaning around her. Other big wafters are 'Mme. Plantier' and 'Felicia', both beautifully scented. Very fragrant are 'Centifolia' and 'Sharifa Asma', and 'Cl. Etoile de Hollande' is so stronly scented I can't eat with a bloom of it on the table; but there are endless wonderfully scented roses.
A few years ago I got a miniscule cutting of a rose growing in the yard of a farm wife on the other side of the valley, a woman fond of flowers. It rooted, I stuck it out in a hot dry area of weedy clay, I forgot about it. My starved little plant is currently blooming, cherry red semidouble blossoms, very fragrant. Its scent is a mixture of old rose with something sharper and fruitier, what I think of as a hybrid scent; some of the Bourbons and HPs have this kind of fragrance, so does 'Noella Nabonnand' if I remember correctly. I'll have to take a closer, more respectful look at my rose. I'm guessing it's a passalong old rose as one sees here and there, saved by its facility in rooting, its color and rebloom and scent, its will to live.

The scent of Oklahoma, to me, is swoon-making, and it wafts. And ONE cut flower of Mme Ernest Calvat will perfume my entire bedroom. Also, Zephirine Drouhin and Gruss an Coburg.

And Double Delight...which is the kind of Hybrid Tea I don't love, but the scent is really wonderful.

I am just beginning to grow old garden roses and haven't detected much scent from any of them yet, I'm sure when they are well established that will change. Probably my 3 consistently most fragrant roses are Chrysler Imperial, Double Delight and Buxom Beauty with Tiffany, Perfume Delight and Pink Peace close behind. This fall Sunsprite has been very fragrant too. Firefighter was very fragrant, but it barely bloomed.