I've noticed that many roses seem to vary in strength of fragrance depending on time of day, weather and other factors. One rose that has a consistently strong, wonderful old rose fragrance is Harlow Carr, an Austin rose. I like this trait since I've found that at times I've been gushing to a visitor about the superb fragrance of X rose only to find ...nothing. Damask of Glendora, for instance, which has such a strong fragrance, shuts down its perfume factory regularly at dusk. Harlow Carr smells great at any time.

Ingrid

Duchesse de Brabant

Randy

Mine is Souvenir de la Malmaison, just love the fragrance!

My all-time favorite rose fragrance that I've encountered so far is Felicia - such a lovely quality to that perfume. Runner-up is Gertrude Jekyll (most days), and just about everyone else places a strong third! Actually, other favorites are MIP, Golden Celebration, Pat Austin (not sure if you're considering DAs), MAC, and so many, many others.

I don't have many smelly roses so I'll just name them all. Louis Philippe is my love, but Chrysler Imperial is very strong and delicious. I can't wait for my young SDLMs to get taller and grow bunches of flowers. Mrs B R Cant is delectable. Marie Nabonnand has a strong damask scent, but I haven't seen a flower since early spring due to shade and transplant. Hermosa has a sweet peppery fragrance. Duchesse d'Auerstadt has a really nice tea scent that stronger than most of them. Clotilde Soupert has a rather strong fragrance but I couldn't tell you what it is.

Sherry

I wish before I die I could smell every kind of rose fragrance so I could give you an opinion based on something other than just what I happen to grow or have stumbled on.

I love Cramoisi Superieur, fruity sweet smell. The Bermuda Mysery Rose Spice has a tantalizing grapefruit smell, alternating with a pepper smell; I haven't been able to figure out what brings out the different smells from that rose.

Quietness has that great "rose" smell whatever you call that. Other teas have that "tea" smell, which I don't know how to describe. Duchesse de Brabant has a wonderful rasberry tea smell; I love that rose. Mrs. BR Cant, lovely sweet tea smell.

There are people more educated than me that can better describe smells with words; it is like trying to describe what a wine tastes like - it's hard to know the words to picture it.

Here's Quietness, still fragrant in the snow.

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It's like asking a lifetime addicted reader what her favorite book is. There are so many different kinds of rose fragrance, and I like/love very nearly all of them, and love having a wide variety of fragrances in the garden. I will concur with rosecats that 'Felicia' has a particularly lovely fragrance, I believe a melding of musk and old rose that floats in the air. And 'Mme. Plantier' has a similar style of scent, equally lovely. But just go investigate sweet Tea, woody Tea, Damask, Musk, Pimpinellifolia, the strong fruity fragrances that bless many of the Bourbons, roses smelling of lemon or myrrh or green apple....the list goes on and on. They all contribute to the beauty of the garden. You have a lot of pleasure to look forward to: enjoy!
Melissa

I have limited experience, but my favorite so far is Spice. True to its name, in the hot summer sun it smells like walking through a spice market in Istanbul - musty cloves and unnamable other delights. As the weather gets cooler, it mellows and takes on a more traditional rose smell, with just a hint of spice.

My list is short because there are very few roses, either antique or modern, that I can actually smell. So if I can smell it, its gotta be stinky...
Compte de Chambord - truly skanky foliage but man it smells!
Frederic Mistral - moderate BS without fungicide, baby powder scent.
Westerland - juicy fruit fragrance that wafts, it will perfume your whole yard. Some BS without fungicide.
SDLM - overpoweringly sweet. Its the baby powder fragrance on steroids. Moderate BS without fungicide.

I have a list of several favorite fragrants. I'll include pictures.

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This first one is Abraham Darby, the Austin rose that is not very disease resistant, but the fragrance is strong and fruity and to die for.

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This next one is Belinda's Dream. It has a perfect sweetness of fragrance that is that essence of rose. A very easy to grow rose.

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Next up is Double Delight. This has a very powerful perfume fragrance. Mine is pretty healthy on Fortuniana rootstock.

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This next one is my personal favorite - Gertrude Jekyll. I could stick my nose in one of these blooms and inhale all day long. It's like a drug to me. Not an easy rose since it sends out long octopus arms, is extremely thorny, and gets blackspot - but worth it to me.

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Last, but not least, I present Prosperity. The fragrance from this rose wafts for many feet around this plant. It has the hybrid musk fragrance that is hard to describe and must be experienced to appreciate.

Some of my favourites, not necessarily in order of preference, I love them all.

La Reine

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Jacques Cartier

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Sharifa Asma

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Great Maiden's Blush

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Mystery Hybrid Musk

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Belle Sans Flatterie

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Maggiepie.....that Mystery Hybrid Musk is gorgeous! Have any idea what it might be?

So many, of course. So I think I'll address myself to my favorite rose quality, which is wafting.

I select for fragrance, though not exclusively, so many of the roses in my garden have a lovely perfume. I'm usually rewarded when I bury my nose in a rose and breathe in. What I have come to value highly is a rose that casts its scent on the air to float around and catch me unawares. The two that do this most noticeably in my garden are Marie Pavié and Rosa moschata, the single musk rose. Both are so rewarding. Funnily enough, I don't find Marie Pavié all that fragrant up close. MP does not require a large space, but if you decide to grow R moschata, do allow a generous space, say ten feet square. I tried for years to keep it in a smaller space and have concluded it is a mistake.

Rosefolly

Maggiepie- I love your choices...are they cold hardy for you, or do they take a lot of winter protection?

Maggiepie- There's a rose at Heirloom Roses under climbers that looks like your mystery hybrid musk....it's called apple blossom. What do you think, could that be it? I'd like to know what rose this is, especially if it does well in your zone 4 winters :)

Alameda, I think the mystery hybrid musk is 'possibly' Queen of the musks.

Lavender lass, the mystery hybrid musk, la reine, jacques cartier and sharifa asma have been through 3 winters, ( counting this one.
I usually mound them up about 12 inches each winter but didn't get to it this year as the ground wasn't frozen until now and now there's a foot of snow on them.
Belle sans flatterie and GMB were only planted this year.
No protection there either apart from the snow.
Am hoping for the best.

Mine is Paul's Hymalayan Musk. In a short period because it blooms only once but unforgettable.

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Here is a link that might be useful: A Little Bit of Paradise

Waft is the key word. La Reine fills the yard with her perfume.

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Lavender lass, I don't think it can be Apple Blossom.
I bought the rose at Hortico, it was supposed to be a DA rose.
They don't sell AB and looking through their pics of all their musks their pic of Queen of the Musks looks most like my rose. The flowers fade out to almost white as they age.

My favorite fragrant roses are Zephirine Drouhin (wafting), Rose de Rescht, and Frederick Mistral.

From my new rose bands from Vintage Gardens Souvenir de la Malmaison and Grandmother's Hat smelled very promising. GH arrived with just one bloom on the band and the fragrance filled that whole kitchen as I unpacked the bands! I am looking forward to smelling them in the garden next spring!

Christina

Rosefolly, I enjoyed your comments about MP. Someone once asked me if a new rose I had received smell good. I couldn't even tell, because my Marie Pavie was wafting her scent all over the garden. I agree ... a nice quality.

Randy

Randy,
So nice to see you back here. You were missed.
My favorites for fragrance are so many, and I have so much love for them all (and the photos to match) but my post would get too lengthy....so I'll try to restrain myself.

If someone was twisting my arm and forced me to choose JUST ONE, even though I adore the scent of dozens of my lovelies, I would have to cry out 'Felicite Parmentier', that sweetly-scented alba from heaven. It would be a near-tie with 'Great Maiden's Blush', and then third would be my namesake rose 'Celeste'. For me, there is nothing to compare to the divine albas for fragrance. If you've never had the pleasure of inhaling the pure sweet bliss of the albas then you are missing out.

After that, I could name dozens that I stick my nose into all summer that are intoxicating. Yolande d'Aragon, Mrs. John Laing, Heinrich Schultheis, Pierre Notting, Belle Amour, Comte de Chambord, Alba Maxima, Ispahan, Boule de Nanteuil, Rose de Rescht,
Marchesa Boccella, Johasine Hanet, Louise Odier, Baron Girod de l'Ain, Stanwell Perpetual, Autumn Damask, Souvenir du Pres. Lincoln, Queen of Denmark, Chloris,
Pompom Panachee.....the list could go on and on.

For modern roses, my favorite by far is Frederic Mistral, followed by Amazing Grace, Pope John Paul II and Rouge Royale.

How's that list for restraint? LOL
It feels like forever til June when I can be transported back to dreamland.....

Celeste

It's a tough choice, but I agree with Celeste that Felicite Parmentier has the best fragrance of all my roses. It is very refined and complex.

The strongest fragrant roses I think are climbing Crimson Glory and Etoile de Hollande -- both absolutely wonderful!

There are some really strongly scented wonderful Austins too -- Sharifa Asma, Jude the Obscure, and Constance Spry all have different fragrances, but strong and intoxicating.

I guess it would be SDLM and all her sports not overpowering but perfect for me followed by Pat Austin. Youngquinn and I sampled fragrances this past Summer at NYBG and we have very different takes on what we were smelling it was interesting. I used to love Chrysler Imperial and Mr Lincoln but my sense of smell has changed over the years and now they have become unpleasant to me.

Rosa moschata

The fragrance is unlike anything else in the rose family.

"I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields, A fresh blown musk-Rose 'twas the first that threw Its sweets upon the summer; graceful it grew As in the wand that Queen Titania wields And, as I feasted on its fragrance, I thought the garden rose it much excelled."

John Keats, 1795-1821.

To my nose, 'Madame Plantier' and 'Felicite Parmentier' have the most refined and beautiful scents of all roses, old and new alike.

Honorable mention goes to 'Devoniensis' and 'Duchesse de Brabant' of the tea class, 'Belle de Crecy' and 'Superb Tuscan' among the gallicas and the exquisite Rosa x centifolia 'Muscosa'. Also 'Blush Noisette' and 'Marie Pavie' for lovely wafting musk.

Another of my favorite rose scents is not produced by the flowers but rather the leaves: the sweet apple perfume of Rosa eglanteria.

Keats's musk rose may not have been Rosa moschata. In 'Ode to a Nightingale' he describes the scents of his nighttime ramble, among them "mid-May's eldest child, the coming musk rose, full of dewy wine, the murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves". We all know that R. moschata flowers late. In 'The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book' the author discusses the different roses called musk rose, and concludes that Keats's rose was R. arvensis.
Melissa

I have so enjoyed reading your posts on fragrant roses. Thankyou all !

Maggiepie- I saw the picture at Hortico. I also saw a climber with a great fragrance that looks a lot like your rose called Clair Matin at Heirloom Roses. Just wondering if that could be it, since it does so well in your zone. I don't really like white roses, but pink fading to white is nice. Does your rose repeat bloom?

Bourbon: Mme. Ernst Calvat'
Damask: Celsiana, or La Ville de Bruxelles, both are also exquisite roses.
Scotch Burnet'- lily of the valley scented- with what a freind calls " high quality french bar soap" 'Altaica'
Rambler: The Garland.
Hybrid Musk: Cornelia and Prosperity. Prosperity is more sweet, Cornelia more musky.
Species: The Incense Rose, Rosa primula, its' leaves are so strongly fragrant it merits its nickname,(its blooms I'd rate 2 out of 10 for strentgh of scent) I also love Rosa moschata because it sends its scent floating around the garden on a warm humid breeze.
Old Garden Tea: Anna Olivier' and Etoile de Lyon'
Noisette: Secret Garden Noisette, most strongly scented Noisette to my nose.
Hybrid Perpetual: Marchessa B.
Pernetiana 'President Herbert Hoover' I am amazed at how strongly, and deliciously fragrant this rose is.
I really can't whittle it down to a favorite. I tried my best. Last time I read the cultivar count, someone counted there were 6,000 different Hybrid Teas....
Lux.

Count me as unsophisticated, but I'll take Abraham Darby any day for fragrance!

Zephirine Drouhin

Today I plunged my nose in Louis Philippe. I think tomorrow I'll take a bite. I would guess it's loaded with carbs. Yummy!

Sherry
P.S. You can probably tell I'm on Atkins now.

I agree with Sherry that Louis Philippe has a wonderful, strong fragrance. Mine is just a baby and so every bloom gets a sniff.

About Le Vesuve - does anyone else find it to have a strong, spicey fragrance? If not, then maybe my rose isn't really LV. It was purchased at a Miami fleamarket as a mystery rose, so maybe it isn't actually LV. Anyone else with a comment on Le Vesuve?

thanks,
Avalon

The rose with the strongest fragrance in my garden is definitely climbing Crimson Glory. I'm not keen on red roses usually, but I spotted this one growing up a tree in the yard of an empty cottage near our downtown that was slated to be torn down. I like climbers, so I braved the "Keep Out" signs and the overgrown yard to get over to it. The fragrance almost knocked me over, and the dark velvety blooms are gorgeous.

It is now in my garden (yes, the cottage was torn down, and that area is now a parking lot) growing around a rose folly in the center of a flower bed, so many of the roses are right at nose level. Of course, part of it has escaped the rose folly, and had grown up a Sombreuil that is growing next to it on a large arch, along with a dark purple clematis whose name I forget. The color combination in the Spring when all three are blooming is amazing.

I have two very large bushes of Le Vesuve, which I love. I find the fragrance nice but not strong, and I do prefer the very strong classic "rose" fragrance of Crimson Glory.

Jackie

My favourite is Frühlingsduft that really lives up to its name, Duft is German for scent. It irks me that HMF first said the scent was "moderate" but has now changed it to "mild to strong" on my insistence. It is very fragrant, not the ordinary rosy scent and not really spicy either, very difficult to describe. This is the rose I take the grandkids to smell in spring, before the garden is a potpourri of mixed smells of roses, pinks and lavender. The scent does not waft like the smell of Madame Plantier or the damasks, you have to bury your nose in it. It doesn't hurt that the flower is beautiful too.

The best all-around fragrance to me is Gertrude Jekyll for sweet, true rose.

Older HT: Thanksgiving which smells like rosy Froot Loops

Old Garden Rose: Nastarana which smells like spicy, sweet Christmas candy : )

Abraham Darby--always able to smell it--even with a cold
Martine Guillot--I have 3 large bushes. They scent the whole area in the evening and the white color glows after dark. Big blooms, great for cutting. Easy and very disease resistant.
Maggie--one of the few Bourbons I have.
"Prom Queen"--my first white hybrid musk. Got it on Ebay. A found rose. Soft, powdery scent. Very vigorous plant. Nothing like Abraham Darby, but lovely.

OK, this is NOT a rose but I have a collection of auriculas and usually there is always one or so blooming at any time - I rush to the greenhouse several times a day just to get a waft of that pure air of spring. Much as I love roses. they can never compare to a good honeysuckle, auriculas or daphnes. It is like a drug - heart beats a bit faster, feel a little faint. Gods, are we not fortunate?