Ok, well call me the Good News / Bad News girl. Good News: the most fragrant rose that I have ever smelled is Color Magic (an HT). I planted one by my former back door and was so amazed that I planted two more. Magnificent wafts of fragrance as soon as I opened the door ~20' away, and that's with avg. coastal SoCal humidity, not Florida. YMMV, but I also loved the GIANT, mutable blooms which, even when cut fully open last a week in the house. ONE bloom will *completely* fill a LARGE room with sweet, sweet fragrance. Bad News: It could bloom more (or I could fertilize more). BUT, more important, it really would have done better for me with regular spray for mildew. Rust is not that big a deal, plant-wise, but in my experience, mildew will debilitate and kill it over time. It's a bloody shame, as Suzy would say. If you spray and have a cutting bed, this is a keeper. More Bad News: You will need to cross-reference mildew susceptibility for the fragrance suggestions above if you do not spray regularly. In particular, Double Delight: 2+ mildew; 4+ rust Rouge Royale: 4+ mildew even in 9% humidity in SoCal Mtns, don't bother Freddy Mistral, Sonia Rykiel: lovely but gone because I didn't spray Fragrant Cloud (and most anything orange) & Tiffany: 4+ mildew Good News: GramHat & Golden Celebration are bullet proof and I could not recommend them more. GramHat is pink, floppy and old-fashioned in fragrance and form, while GC, to me, is such a happy looking bush in bloom, no doubt due to my reaction to yellow, and also has very good fragrance and will try to fill a room. Blooms will blow faster, but it's a great repeater in this area. Good News: Anything Jeri recommends. Seriously. Good Hunting!

You probably won't find any seeds other than trades for hybrid types (either grafted or own root) - while you could get an interesting rose, they don't come true and might be wildly different in color, shrub size/form, flower type than the parent rose. There are a few places that sell seeds for species roses (Chiltern for one). I've sown rosa glauca and rosa sericea subs. omeiensis f. pteracantha ('Winged Thorn', grown for its ornamental thorns not flowers). Rosa glauca comes true and WS well (even self sows), Winged Thorn germinated on my desk before I even put the pot outside, leaving me to care for seedlings indoors all winter when I hadn't planned to.

Good question to ask here on the Antique Rose Forum, Aimee! I enjoyed reading the answers of other ORG lovers and discovered some really exciting roses this way for myself! Here is my input: Hybrid Teas: Anna Pavlova. This one is a real gem in my opinion that found its way into my garden by accident. I do believe it is a rarely grown HT even though it was just released in 1981, that deserves more attention. Very beautifully formed, pale pink, full bloom and a surprisingly strong damask fragrance to die for. Frederic Mistral. A winner in my garden, light warm pink color and strong fragrance. Vigorous grower. Memorial Day. Deep pink color, huge blooms with a very intense perfume. Moonstone. Huge and I mean really huge classic white HT blooms with a pink edge. Very good cut flower. Unfortunately I only can smell a very faint scent. Mr. Lincoln. Dark red, that fades to blue-ish red, which I love, with a super strong fragrance. If you are looking for a red rose to give to the very special person in your life, this is the one. Pope John Paul II. My favorite white modern HT. The flowers are humongous and the fragrance knocks your socks of and is wafting. Vigorous rose in my garden that has been never without flowers since the first flush this year. Floribundas: Iceberg and Iceberg, climbing. I love them because they are so floriferous here in SoCa. Always give you a reliable punch of white color, where you need it. Only flaw in my garden susceptible to mildew at certain times of the year, but the advantages outweigh this drawback. Nimbus. Very unusual flower color. Brownish-mauve at times. It is a very special interesting rose, that I am sure will not be loved by everyone, but if you are into unusual colors it might be the one for you. Our Lady of Guadalupe. Silvery shine on cool pink flowers that open in a very elegant way. Grandifloras: Sweetness. Relatively new introduction. Produces very beautiful lavender colored blooms with a strong fragrance. What stands out for me is that this rose is completely healthy in my garden. That is very rare for a lavender colored rose, which are known to be disease prone. Shrub Roses: Belindas Dream. Very awesome, full pink flowers. Strong fragrance. Cymbeline. Older David Austin rose with a very unusual elegant almost pink-grayish color, that is hard to describe. Eden Rose 88/Pierre de Ronsard. To me one of the most beautiful modern roses with an old-fashioned look. Flowers are large, cupped and very full. Color is a creamy white with pink in the center. Even though many people claim that this rose has no scent, I can clearly detect a pleasant, mild, fruity, fragrance. Pretty Jessica. Small bush with exquisite, clear pink, very cupped, flowers. I like that this rose doesn't get the monster size of many other David Austin roses. Scepter'd Isle. Very elegant, pale pink, cupped shaped, flowers with a strong myrrh fragrance. It shows it yellow stamens in a very charming way, when the flower gets older. My plant is still very young but so far I love it. The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild. Also new to me, but already won my heart over with its strong citrus fragrance and beautiful, pink (darker in the center), cupped shaped, blooms. The Prince. Another new arrival in my garden, but boy the very dark crimson flowers fading to a wonderful dark purple color of this rose are just outstanding. It looks almost like velvet and the intense fragrance is another nice addition to the already very impressive blooms. Christina

That's a definite possibility, Christopher. MANY body bag, inexpensive producers supply roses of similar color to the name on the tag. Add the public's knowledge of the Sterling Silver name and it's a done deal. MANY years ago, I managed a jewelry department for a SoCal dept. store. I grew dozens of different lavender-lilac-mauve roses. I'd taken an enormous bouquet with many dozens of various blooms in those tones and set them on the counter. I can't tell you how many people passed by and exclaimed, "Look at all those Sterling Silvers!". Ironically, there were NO Sterling Silver blooms in the bunch. At that time, I had refused to grow it due to its demonstrated poor performance in my area. It wasn't until I obtained the florist stock of SS, the one I shared with Vintage that performed significantly better, I permitted it in my garden. Kim