The At last rose has finished blooming but amazingly my Always and Forever rose hasn't!! In fact this has to be a first as I had those 3 big blooms on it. Then I thought well that is it for this year. SURPRISE!!! It got 2 more beautiful blooms on it and not only that but there are an additional 2 more buds on it that have yet to open!! So it surpassing what it did last year in spades and as of now it is the one that smells so beautiful when you hold it up to your nose. At least this one I managed to get it in a rose bowl.

karengfawcett - That's great!! So happy to see roses getting better.

vaporvac - is that Bolero or 1st Crush?? Sure is gorgeous!

Today my roses that won for fragrance were:

- Old Fragrance

- The Alnwick Rose - raspberry!! Oh swoon!

Carol

To be honest, I don't really know what I am doing with pots. I planted MAC as an own root from ARE in 2016 April in a smart pot with a lot of compost, perlite and manure, alfalfa, worm castings. That was before I knew about potting soils and pine fines. I think I used MG bloom booster through the season. The smart pot allows excess water to drain out quickly. In fact it probably does not retain enough water hence the under watering this summer. It is in a mostly shady site due to the shade from the house except toward the top and I wonder if that has incentivized her to grow so tall into direct sun.

Most of the growth you see (to my 2nd floor window) was all in that first season. No winter dieback. Two blooms all year last year, slightly more this spring, but the most buds I have seen yet are on it now. As I said it hardly grew any new height this year and leaves were crispy. I think soil was too dry and it got attacked by spider mites being against the hot brick. Then I started watering more and giving it fish emulsion and it has pushed out new leaves and basal break.

For such a poor site, MAC is a real trooper.

Heritage today. Not usually so coral.

Ooh that's beautiful Totoro!

Still Harlow Carr here. For such tiny blooms she sure fills up the garden with scent! :)

Another day of my nose not smelling anything. Boy getting old really stinks as far as smelling things. But still, Julia Child, I can always smell that fragrance and I don't know why . It's a very subtle sweet fragrance. Munstead Wood, nothing everyone Raves about Munstead wood, get nothing. Booo. But, that means I buy roses for their looks and not their fragrance.

Carol, my pic was of Bolero. (OT, but that's the 1st pic I took and posted directly with my brand-new first ever smartphone! I feel like such a traitor to the Luddite movement, but my old flip phone literally broke in half, and this new one actually lowered my bill. We'll see how I like it over time.)

totoro, I feel a bit better knowing you MAC was from 2016; I though it was new this year. Mine is growing well and needs a new pot. She's already bloomed a bit, so she's a keeper. She's meant to do well on a Northern wall and hopefully, that's the case because that's where she's going, although she does get sun as it moves East to West.

I think all my pots' drainage is too good, as well, but it does allow the roots to grow. I'm putting less perlite in them as I re-pot up.

P.S. Kristine, MW isn't always fragrant. It just depends on time of day and weather.

vaporvac - thanks. Hey good going with the smartphone!! You're way ahead of me. :)

Kristine - I'm ordering Julia Child this year...so it's nice to hear that it has fragrance. That's the one thing that keeps me holding off - I don't think it has much fragrance.

Gillian - Harlow Carr - oh wow!! Does it get very big for you?

Totoro - Heritage is very coral there, isn't it. Would love to smell it.

Carol

Oh my goodness, I have a rose fragrance today. I can't smell many of them and it is funny because it is usually on roses that people say have no fragrance like JC and Ingrid Bergman.

But today, I got the sweetest fragrance from Pretty lady. What a lovely fragrance it is too.

Carol,I hope Julia works out for you. I sure love my 4 work horses.

Hmm, today my most fragrant are:

Abraham Darby (fruity, of course)

Bishop's Castle (my spouse said that it was "too strong" today - face powder )

Bolero (just delicious creaminess)

Munstead Wood (although I get a bit of ammonia)

Princesse Charlene de Monaco (lemony)

I wish my Boleo would get with it and bloom

Kristine - You have fragrance from Ingrid Bergman too??? Wow, that's a once in a lifetime event. :) I would love to get Pretty Lady.

Noseometer - lovely, sweet pics. :) I love my Bishop's Castle's fragrance. Yum!

Today my most fragrant rose was (by a long shot) Pope John Paul II. What an intense fragrance - so citrusy!!! I am blown away by it!! Second place is Sweet Beauty.

Pope John Paul II - I am in love with this rose!!

Carol

yes my husband and I both smell raspberries from Ingrid Bergman and this is a different plant than the one we used to have to me they both smell like fresh raspberries

CaroI , almost got Pope John Paul2 with my last Springs order. I certainly should have after looking at your picture . Maybe it goes on next year's list. What a phenomenal looking Rose. I haven't heard anyone ever say anything negative about Pope John Paul II Rose.

Kristine - I think that HMF reviews are all EXCELLENTs. I think you should put it on your list for next year too. :)

Kristine - Does Ingrid Bergman have a slight fragrance or a strong for you and your husband?

Carol

A strong fragrance. I sm always surprised when I hear people say that they can't smell anything.

I have come to the conclusion that we all have noses that pick up different smells. Roses thst are supposed to be super fragrant, I get nothing lol

My list is getting longer by the day

Reallly - then maybe I should get Ingrid Bergman. Hmmmm

Carol

She is s pretty girl

Kristine, I'm not sure if I hear much about this one here but her HMF reviews are quite good. There are shockingly deep saturated pink huge blooms on Parole today (aka Buxom Beauty) with strong fragrance.

I wish I could box her up and send her to you because I think that you might love her color! I can't even look at the other roses because my eyes are drawn to her. Nobody will even notice my faded lavenders, LOL!

Lavenderlace - yes! I love Buxom Beauty!! It is an incredible rose. The fragrance is really strong - but not sweet.

Carol

that is perfect looks like exactly what I am looking for thank you ladies appreciate the heads-up

Buxom Beauty. why I think we may be on to something here . What a fabulous color rose and Big 8 inche blooms

It sounds like it's going to be on the list. Something has got to go

I wonder what that poor Rose is going to be ?

Kristine - lol - I have lots of roses I could get rid of...but Buxom Beauty is here to stay. :) I also like the sport, Sweet Beauty.

Carol

Guy de Maupassant smells of apples

Sombrueil

Sharifa asma - dont love how it opens so quickly to show stamens. These photos were same day.

Thanks again for the heads up on Buxom beauty. I think it is always best to hear someone else's review of a rose. I've bought many roses thinking I love the color but it never worked out. But, when you hear that somebody else is growing it and they're happy with it that's a great recommendation.

A good example of that is flamingo Rosita. I never would have even considered that Rose and it is doing so well.

I have also added Young Lycidas to the list. I have removed Falstaft (again) and Sophie's rose. To go with Memorial day I will do something white, nor sure which one yet. Could be the mini flora WhirlAway.

I don't know about you guys but I spend way too much time planning and thinking and rethinking about my rose plan. good grief

I will probably order another Boleo since the one I have from Stargazer hasn't bloomed yet . Maybe it won't this season. So, I'm not even really sure it is a bolero . And if I end up with two, that's okay.

If our Lowes store sell the Always and Forever rose next year in their Garden Center I just might buy a 2nd one seeing how the first one is doing great here.

I am not sure if the peach drift rose has any smell to it-I imagine there is when it first opens but what it doesn't make up for in smell it certainly does in blooms!!! I have never seen so many blooms open up on one stem like these ones do and this one in peach is absolutely breath-taking!!! And this is its 2nd time in doing so.

Kristine - I really love my Young Lycidas - although after each flower is done, I cut the stem back quite a bit...so now my YL's canes stand upright and the flowers look up ... for the most part. There are still some that charmingly bend a bit.

Karengfawcett - Wow - that's a lot of blooms! Looks like a gorgeous delphinium spike. :)

Carol

I have a cool spot that will be charming with a bit of droop. It is a planter area along a path that goes downhill. So the further down I walk the roses are starting at knee level and at the end of the walkway the roses are at shoulder level. So I think It would be kind of cool to have young lycidas there at the shoulder level area where they can just droop over and be right at the level of my nose

That sounds so pretty Kristine!

Buxom Beauty, Grande Dame, and Perfume Delight all kind of look alike here with BB having the biggest blooms.

I just received Memorial Day from Northland Rosarium. It looks pretty darn good. I know all hot pink will be an eyeful, sooooo, also thinking, don't faint Lavender, but thinking about Quick Silver. I know, so unlike me

LOL Kristine on Quick Silver! Please report back if she has any fragrance. Memorial Day is about as dark of pink as I can take here so the above mentioned roses are going to be finding new homes soon.

MD has nice cool undertones so looks great with cool lavenders, unlike these eight feet tall beasts of Savannah!

Sharifa Asma has a really great scent today, almost as good as Jude here.

That Savannah, what a beast. The write up says 3ft ha ha. But I do love that color so she gets to move in with another giant, who I have not decided on yet

I think that the write-up that I saw on her said 30 inches! I wish MD would get huge because she's in the right place for it. But nooooo, they are barely three feet and one is still only eight inches (but blooms)!

I obviously planted them totally backwards but I thought that MD would be the bigger one.

Just got my first bloom of a new one, an ARE Pioneer rose, Lady Pamela Carol. She is smelly! I was kinda surprised - I was expecting a tea-type fragrance because of the color, but it is rather old rose/damask.

Needsmore, stunning to say the least.

Savannah, the beast

The beast looks great! And you certainly have her under control better than I do! All of my constant pruning so that we can see out of the windows has just resulted in more growth and less flowers.

She sounds very happy. It is sure hard to know sometimes how tall something can actually get. The tags are such a guesstimate. What I would like to see on a description is, in zone 8 this has been know to be 6 ft tall. I would love better and more extensive description . I hate moving things around.

Me too, good idea!

Distant Drums smells of myrrh.

Kristine - that sounds divine!!! Pictures when you have them!!

Needmoremulch - wow - rose damask fragrance? Looks like a keeper. mmmmm :)

Totoro - in my old house, I planted DD, and I could smell it from 8 feet away....and I hated, hated the smell. I had to get rid of it. I like the smell of myrrh...but that one was disgusting. I bet if I grew it in a pot (it was in the ground), the fragrance would be more manageable.

Carol

Carol, now I don't know if that will work. If I plant it where I take out Savannah it may be the same problem, covering up Olivia. If I put it where it would be about chest high, then I would also have to move Beverly.

Back to the drawing g board lol

As I am trying to find locations for new roses I am realizing I don't have room for all of them

But which oned to remove ?

Kristine - maybe you need to also start growing in p ots!! :)

Carol

Lol, oh, I have already gone that director

I have about 20 in pots

Kristine, I have another one for you! New Zealand is doing great here but can have that neon coral color that Savannah can have. They had better shape up and lighten up!

I will check it out thanks

Carol, i dont love the myrrh fragrance either. Luckily my DD fragrance is not that overpowering as there is only one bloom on the tiny thing.

Kristine - :)

Totoro - one bloom...just a baby plant. Awww :)

Carol