Hi, Sunnyside, I admire Papi Delbard a lot and have looked at a lot of pictures of it. I have noticed that it is rated zone 6b on helpmefind, so I don't know if it would do well for you or not in zone 5. When I look at the gardens that do grow it on hmf, I noticed that there's no one lower than 6b that lists it in their garden. Celeste lives in NH and grows a lot of roses. She doesn't list them on hmf, but maybe you could email her and ask, if no one responds from up your way. Mad gallica seems to be saying that it won't do well, but I could be mis interpreting.

Thanks everyone for chiming in with responses! That is an important cautionary note, Thorntorn, about rose breeders having a possible agenda in promoting the fragrance of their own roses when they may be marginal at best. Certainly Delbard and Kordes roses do not come to mind when I think of fragrance, and I take Clements' statements of "highly fragrant" on a majority of his roses with a skeptical eye, since at least my poor nose can't detect much fragrance in most of his roses. Still, my impression of the Delbard book as a whole was an attempt to break down the components of different rose scents as "recipes" and celebrate the joy of smelling roses - most of the examples of scent combinations in the rest of the book were from OGRs. Also, until recent years I assume that fragrance was a not high priority in rose breeding, when more visual pursuits like high centered HTs or health concerns like BS resistance or hardiness have taken more precedence. For me in zone 5, those health/hardiness concerns are one of my highest priorities and I love the whole clan of (mostly) scentless Kordes and other types of roses. If I have to sacrifice wafting fragrance for that health I gladly will, but I'm glad there are the OGRs and new breeders like David Austin who have brought fragrance back into their lines. Regardless, I agree with you that it's too much work most of the time to try to detect (or imagine) a scent in a rose that is at best stingy with the scent. It's like trying to train my palate to detect the difference between a $10 bottle and a $50 bottle of wine. I can already tell the difference between truly cheap and a $10 bottle of wine, and frankly I don't WANT to develop a taste for expensive wines - I already have a taste for expensive roses! Sometimes the descriptions of rose scents are rather like those wine taster guides - who wants the taste (or scent) of "tar" or "smoke" in either one? For me, though, that doesn't mean that roses that don't have much in the scent department aren't worth wasting my time on. With my poor nose, I'd probably be stuck with a dozen or two roses that I could actually smell under normal conditions, and the intriguing look of roses like Red Intuition is totally worth it in my yard even though I can't imagine it having any appreciable scent. I realize that folks like Thorntorn choose roses with fragrance as a top priority, and that's part of the great thing about growing roses - that there's enough diversity of form, scent, growing habits, colors, and other types of roses to satisfy your own personal priorities. I totally agree with Suzy that what speaks to us about a particular rose is very individual and a complex combination of our experiences and priorities not just something that could be prescribed about the rose. So I agree with Mendocino rose that I wish my nose were better, but I'll settle for enjoying the look of most of my roses and the scent of a few select dear ones. I love the idea kittymoonbeam had to literally drink in some of the scent of those few favorites - I can't see doing that to try to coax a reluctant scent from a rose, but that would be so fun to try with my dear toe-curling fragrant Frances Dubrueil! Cynthia

It does bloom on per stem (thus far). I did some research and it looks to me like it could be Ambridge rose. But something tells me its not an Austin at all. It could be an Austin but it would have to be one where the patent has expired. It really looks like the pics of Ambridge I see online but it does not bloom in clusters, at least it hasn't yet.

I haven't bught too many from K,Mart but a few from Big W. All those big stores get them in too early, I reckon, early to mid April, if I remember right and if you're going to buy from them best to get them early, I bought 6 freesia from Big W mid April put them in a bucket of water with a dash of fish and kelp concentrate (forget the name of the stuff now) and left them 2 hours before planting. All are doing well and indeed flowering. I'm sure none of those stores rotate their stock so if you're buying in late June or July when roses should be planted i reckon much of their early stock would have dried out.