I'd say in Olga's case it's magic AND hard work. Hard work alone doesn't seem to account for how fantastic her roses look. I'll never forget that photo of her Abraham Darby bush she posted a few years back. If I tell myself it's partly magic, then I can feel better about the fact that I will never get an Abraham Darby that looks as good as hers! ;-) That said, there's no doubt Olga really knows what she's doing! --Ron

Ask about Fellemberg, which has vibrant deep pink to pinkred blooms. I also think Nur Mahal would be charming. Nachidoches Noisette is also stunningly beautiful. And these three have had little 'curl up and die' syndrom after cold winters and the occassional colder spring.) But these won't give continuous bloom. (But then continous bloom tends to get taken for granted, KnockOut, cough, cough). Another to consider would be Ballerina, which reblooms well and whose small red orange hips would make for fall and winter interest as well.

Most fragrant Tea-Noisettes: Top T-N for both type of scent and strength of scent:Duchesse d'Auerstadt A vendor was selling a row of huge plants (budded onto root stock) of Duchess d. A. at the Old Rose Celebration a few years ago and all the large plants were in full bloom and I was kicking myself for having ran out of cash for it was the most fragrant of any Tea-Noisette I'd ever smelled at vintage gardens or at s.j. h. rose garden... The apricot colored blooms with a touch of pink were large and luscious and scented of stone fruit, and Musk rose, heady and seductive... at that moment I wondered why so many people favor Reve d'Or in comparison. FFFF, out of five. ___________ Marachal Niel, almost as fragrant, as the Duchesse, I bought my M.N. from Rogue Valley. My favorite yellow rose, and if it were the only yellow rose in the world I might be content, I adore it so much. FFF and 1/2 out of five. on some enchanting and rare afternoons it's as strongly scented as FFFF. ____________ Celine Forestier. It's 2016 and the plant is c. seven years old, it came from Rogue Valley and it blooms fully in spring, however rebloom in summer and autumn is only c. 25- 30 percent of the spring flush. It has a really lovely refined fragrance that is dependable, under all conditions and more than moderate in strength. If only I could find a well repeating clone. FFF and 1/2 out of five. __________________ Mme. Alfred Carriere, from hortico.com c. 7 years ago, moderate fragrance, dependably fragrant. FFF __________________ Reve d'Or sweet rose scent overlaid with Musk Rose. FF and 1/2 out of five. from Rogue Valley roses. _____________________ I can only rarely detect any scent from the Lamarque that I bought from A.R.E., it has a slight lemon scent scent with a meadow finish... and it's foliage is not nearly as pretty as the one at Morcom Amphitheare of Roses labeled California 'Lamarque' .The blooms are very beautiful but it's not the rose I so fiercely desired. FF out of five. ______________ Crepescule from vintagegardens.com variable fragrance strength under different conditions. F to FF and 1/2 out of five. __________________________________ I never bought Jaune Desprez because it smells strongly of bananas to me, a nice scent but not what I'm looking for in a rose. That is a darling photo of Bouquet d'Or. Luxrosa

I am starting to think that hybrid teas, even the older ones, are not as much work to keep clean as the dense shrubby OSO EZEs and the Knock outs. wIth the HTs you just look to the hygiene, air transfer and spray them with old fashioned Sulpher Lime and dormant oil in the winter. With the twiggy new shrubs you can accumulate all kinds of fungus and stuff but they keep blooming and over grow the yellow leaves. They have to be opened up and cleaned up or they infect everything around them. I really believe this. You really cant strip their leaves off; its suicide. Here in coastal NJ we are in black spot hell, fungusamongus every spring. The nights are cold and wet. The days can get warm with big drops in temperature. Humidity all year. I have rugosas but keep them far away from other roses because they are great mildew traps. I like all of them. Some that I think are excellent for us in cold 6B are Autumn Sunset, Queen Elizabeth, New Dawn, Sea Foam, Cecile Brunner, Heritage (prone a little to bs) popcorn drift, and the newer Kordes. I have found great Maidens Blush gets some, but its worth it, so does Sidonie, but I love it. Sun, spacing, food and hygiene (pick up the leaves) are the keys.