I don't think you can beat David Austin old English roses. I put in LE Braithwait this summer, deep crimson and beautiful old rose shape - incredible repeat flowering. However the scent is very light. Get hold of the catalogue and the rose descriptions will tell you which ones are heavily scented.

David Austin roses are obviously a good choice but not the only one for fragrance. Many of the new varieties of HT and floribunda (even miniatures - Sean McCann's Admirable is superbly scented) Check out the websites ALL the speciallist rose nurseries for a good choice. My preferred UK supplier is C and K Jones, quality bushes and good selection.

If you are like me and are less adventerous than some of the folks on here, meaning you want hybrid Teas, I LOVE Fragrant Cloud, Blue Girl, New Zealand, Chrysler Imperial for fragrance.

Good Luck with the garden.

Double Delight has a lovely frangrance. Also, Austin's Heritage is nice, and Abraham Darby.

Double Delight, Abraham Darby, Papa Meilland, McCarthney Rose, Victor Hugo, and so on.

The 'ROSES' forum has a post with a list of fragrant roses that was put together from a previous question about 'What's your pick for most fragrant rose?' - I bumped it up in case you care to take a look at it. It includes HTs, Austin's and OGR's - a fun list and nice reference - I copied it to a Word file for future reference.

Andrea

Thank you Andrea,
The post is very interesting (24 pages of excellent information). ye.
Nadine.

So, Brian L...what roses did you get?

Andrea

Popular and outstanding as Austin roses undoubtedly are, there are also some old roses with quite exceptional fragrance and which tend to be very disease resistant. My Top 5 are: Mme Isaac Pereire, Louis Odier, Maiden's Blush, Comte de Chambord and Mme Alfred Carriere. Most of these are also repeat flowering.

Mr. Lincoln, the best, a people pleaser, easy to grow in my climate. I think it was America's favorite rose at one time. Certainly the favorite red rose.

Don Juan, smaller blooms and a fussier bush, but I've seen it looking incredible elsewhere. A small climber that improves once established and happy, Good color, and a charming unique way of unfolding it's petals. I asked a little girl which of all my roses was her favorite and she picked Don Juan, although there are others certainly more impressive. Don Juan has something special.

Ingrid Bergman is highly regarded.

Altissimo is a huge single blossom, with healthy blue-green leaves; a piller rose, it holds it's lacy branches high. Not much fragrance, but whatever.... Put it at the back of the border. I like to see it with the morning sun behind it, illuminating its petals. Bright red w/ yellow stamens. It's perky individualistic, and well-behaved.

Hugh Dickson is an fine old rose, a hybrid perpetual, blooms profusely, powerful fragrance. Easy care. I had mine in a big pot in my yard, and someone actually stole it. My husband walked out of the house and accosted the rose-napper in our yard, he threw Hugh in his jeep and tore off. Alas, my beautiful well-loved rose was never recovered. I tried to buy another one, but it's no longer carried by the nursery. I need to special order.

Oklahoma may be the darkest, truest red. Beautiful flower.

Fragrant Cloud is a deep orange-red, but has what is probably the richest perfume in the kingdom.

David Austin has a couple of fragrant reds with old rose form, but I'm not familiar with them. I don't trust those English, maybe because I'm Irish. It couldn't be because most of the the bushes have been puny and pathetic, with one sorry bloom feebly held up to the light?

Ask at your specialized nursery or look on your local rose society website for recommendations specific to your climate.