I bought New Zealand because it is advertised as very strong, and it is VERY powerful! Unfortunately I now realize I prefer the citrus scented roses, and New Zealand is more "classic" rose, like rose perfume, so I never actually bring them in the house. But New Zealand will blow your socks off.
I also have Purple Passion which is very strong and lemony, which I love. It's hard to find, though.
Carla in Sac

thank you - I'm going to look at these two!

A couple of suggestions, not on a particular rose but on choosing. First of all, what is the space like? You wouldn't want something thorny and overwhelming the patio door even if the fragrance is great (i.e. Gertrude Jekyll). Second, if at all possible, try to find an example of the rose to sniff before buying. What some people find delicious you may find offensive, or maybe just not your idea of what a rose should smell like. I.e. Wollerton Old Hall smells like cat pee to me. I love Jude the Obscure, but some don't. Marie Pavie blooms a lot and has wafting fragrance but it is not your typical rose fragrance. It is more musky than sweet. Also keep in mind that a hot south or southwest exposure may drive off all the fragrance molecules.

The space is a few feet from one of my patio doors, maybe three feet away and down a couple steps from the door..... I did not realize that sun exposure could affect the scent - that could be why none of mine have fragrance. My back yard, for the most part, faces south. Unfortunately I cannot plant anything on the east side of my property because it's all driveway.... I could plant some roses facing west against my house but they would get all afternoon sun and no morning (house blocking). From what I've gathered on here, I thought that was probably not a good idea? And my front yard, right now, is completely shaded. I have a Black Tupelo and a very large Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar that basically block all the sun.

My fave fragrance is Jude the Obscur Which Smells of lychees. Lady of Shallot has a tea rose fragrance. Boscobel smells of cherries. First crush has a champagne fruity fragrance. Abraham Darby and Evelyn smell great too. Sweet Mademoiselle HT is warm and sweet also.

Heritage is thornless and fragrant but petals blow fast.

https://www.kordes.us/collection/parfuma

Of these, I have only MA.

Cori Ann’s observation of it evoking Jagermeister is accurate.

To be clear: was your favorite, Julia Child, in your list of those w/o fragrance?

One of my favorites is Fragrant Cloud. Alot of the really fragrant roses are older ones - Chrysler Imperial, Tiffany, Perfume Delight............

Just to be clear, are you looking for the STRONGEST smellers, or our favorite scents? I listed the ones which would fill a house, not my favorites (and I agree Fragrant Cloud belongs on that list)
Carla in Sac

Strongest!!! I know that whether something smell "pleasing" is completely individual. I'm just looking for one or two that actually can be smelled!! The ones I have now have zero fragrance. Not even a whiff.

Rifis - I cannot smell Julia Child. My daughter says it has a very slight smell that if you really stick your nose into the bloom, you will detect! It's my favorite because it blooms so well and it's just beautiful. The others are just okay to me - but that one I really love. Also - thank you for the link - I"m going to check it out!

For strong sweet fragrance, New Zealand and Memorial Day have outstanding fragrance. New Zealand is out of this world.

Other sweetly fragrant roses:

Beverly, Clouds of Glory, Falling in Love, Perfume Delight, Pretty Lady Rose, Sheer Bliss and Sweet Mademoiselle

Oklahoma deep red and gertrude jeckyl are my strongest fragrance roses. Abraham darby next

Any online sources for New Zealand? Thanks!

La France, Crimson Glory, Eglantyne and Scepter'd Isle.

Double Delight is an intensely fragrant rose that we had in my yard growing up. I haven't grown Firefighter but hear it is also very fragrant and few to no thorns, if that is an issue by a walkway. I have always wanted to put my nose into a Pope John Paul II rose, since that it is supposed to be the most fragrant white. If you go to HMF and then select "Member Ratings" tab and click on "Fragrance" you will get a list of all the most fragrant roses starting with the highest rated Double Delight.

https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/plants.php?tab=34&ratingTyp=200

The only rose I've been able to smell without putting my nose to the nose is comte de Chambord..

Edmunds Roses and Regan Nursery sell New Zealand.

Excellent link, Stephanie.

Felicia smells wonderful. It is a Hybrid Musk rose.

Well thank you all for the comments and suggestions. Since Jude the Obscure was one of the roses suggested by multiple people, I ordered it from David Austin! New Zealand I could only find online at Regans and can't order yet, but I'm going to. I will keep researching the other suggestions (for size, zone, habit, etc) and when spring ordering opens up, I'll order a couple more. I'm excited to add to my rose garden - I only have a couple bushes now and since I'm just starting with roses, I don't want to overdo it. I'm thinking I will just add a one or two each year. I have to say that I may buy another Julia Child though. It's so beautiful and doing so well. The Drop Dead Red rose has some yellow leaves and some leaves have holes - it's doing well but looks a little ratty! Same for the Drift rose. But Julia Child and Soul Sister both have perfect leaves and perfect blooms. I can't figure out why the difference since they're planted near each other - same sun, same watering, etc. Thank you all again!

Bobbi

TBL, the difference is in the genetics of the rose and how that reacts to your particular environment. That's why at times, we can do all the research in the world and a rose will still disappoint. Some people report terrible BS with JC! Scent is also so individual. I like them all, but some folks can not abide by a few. I f you have a local or regional garden, perhaps visit it now when roses are getting into the difficult time of Summer. What does well there 'should' do well for you. It's also a great way to experience the many different fragrances.

Thanks - I will research and see if there is a local rose garden.....

Noseometer, OMG Your Marie Pavie is gorgeous! I bought 3 baby bands from Burlington and mine have identical blooms to yours. Where did you get yours? I have realized, since my purchase, that some vendors sell a strain of MP that have single to semi-double blooms and some have fully double like yours. I also got one Marie Daley (pink sport of MP) from Antique Rose Emporium, but it has single white blooms so they either sent MP by mistake or the cutting they took from their MD that ended up in my garden had reverted to MP. I am really looking forward to the musky wafting fragrance and planted mine by the back patio. They are still too small to know if I will be able to detect it’s waft, but I love the fragrance when I sniff a bloom. Everyone’s nose is different.

Noseometer BEAUTIFUL!!! Maybe someday I will be able to grow roses like her!

Stephanie - my MP came from Roses Unlimited. I also got two MPs from Antique Rose Emporium and the blooms on them are slightly more than singles and white, whereas the one from RU is blush pink, fading to almost white. The bloom form on the ones from ARE is muddled whereas the ones from RU are more formal looking.

threeboxerlover - you can! And many more, besides. You can start now :)

Stephanie, so are you saying Burling carries the double form?

A local, public rose garden (Longwood, for example) is going to have either a serious spray program, or a mega-serious spray program, unless they say otherwise. It is just the way the world works. So I wouldn't necessarily agree that those are good places to do research.

Vaporvac, it sounds like from noseometer’s followup description that Marie Pavie from Roses Unlimited and Burlington are the same. I didn’t gets pictures of my MP blooms but they were blush pink and had a formal looking double bloom that was not muddled.

Thanks. I'd like one like that for my front beds, although I really still like mine from ARE. I'm probably ordering a few things from Burling in the Spring and will order it then, if I remember. : ((

Mad, I did think about that, but wasn't meaning such a big fancy place. My local gardens are lucky to be weeded, much less sprayed. Even the Columbus Garden of Roses (which I imagine gets something applied), has an Earthkind section that lets one see the unadulterated truth. It ain't pretty, sometimes! Maybe I'm just lucky to have such gardens nearby. However, even there I was able to see what experience a lot of die-back and had great fragrance even in the heat. Visiting throughout the year also helped give a sense of how often and profusely certain varieties bloom. Without doing that, I never would have know how big Pink Pet and Mme A. Waterer can get here or how outstanding they remained into the Fall.

I honestly cannot think of a single public garden with roses in a demonstration plot to show potential gardeners what the roses would look like without a spray program. None. There are theoretically Earth Kind trials somewhere, but in general those avoid the northeast. The purpose of public rose gardens is for show - a place to take pictures. If the garden cannot be sprayed, the usual next step is to pull the roses. Which is why having a forum to interrogate other rosarians in the region is priceless.

I agree!!!! That's why it's good to have this forum, but I do gain other things from even the large rose gardens I've visited. Portland, Me has turned their rose garden into an Earthkind garden, but I've yet to visit. I remember someone here posted on it a while back none too impressed. They shared the sentiment that gardens should be sprayed and be showplaces. My public rose garden has mainly OGRs as does the one in Dayton, which also has Rugosas.I'm appalled I lived in Montreal for years and never visited theirs there. I visited the botanical gardens numerous times, but barely remember the roses. Have you ever been there, Mad?

OK, the truth is most roses aren't fragrant. The good news is that there are lots of fragrant ones out there. Here's my list of heavy hitters by color of Hybrid Teas that are intensely fragrant. Non Hybrid Teas are in (parenthesis.) BTW Marie Pavie doesn't smell much to me nor does New Zealand. Also, don't believe catalogue descriptions when it comes to strength of fragrance.

Red- Mr Lincoln, Firefighter, Oklahoma, Papa Meilland

White- Pope John Paul 2, Maria Shriver, Prairie Star

Purple- Melody Parfumee (grandiflora), Twilight Zone, Angel Face, Heirloom

Reddish Purple- Munstead Wood (Austin), Rouge Royal

Pink - Peter Mayle, Radio Times (Austin) Sharifa Asma (Austin), The McArtney Rose, Tiffany, Elle

Alec's Red, Comptesse De Provence

Yellow- Lemon Spice

Multi Color- Secret, Double Delight, Typhoo Tea, Bella'Roma

Orangish Red- Fragrant Cloud, Dolly Parton

Apricot- Jude The Obscure (Austin), Tamora (Austin), Golden Celebration (Austin)

There are many, many, many more that are fragrant, but these will get you done.

Thank you, this breakdown by color is helpful! I ordered a Jude the Obscure! I"m also going to get Mr. Lincoln and Fragrant Cloud since they've been mentioned several times too.

Bobbi

My Jude is fairly fragrant up close, but mr. Lincoln is very fragrant, but mine is yet to bloom. Hopefully tthis fall!

Al, great list! I will second Golden Celebration as being very fragrant. I love cutting the blooms to bring in for this reason.

Jude the Obscure in a more peach mode.