The first rose that came to mind for me, though it’s not that it doesn’t have fragrance, was Fun in the Sun. It is supposed to smell fruity but mine is distinctly myrrh. I’m not a fan of myrrh so if it doesn’t develop a better fragrance in the next couple of years i plan to replace it. I thought it was so strange that I got such a different scent from mine.

Chris: thank you and appreciate your info. very much. You save me money on non-scent roses.

Straw, many people find the roses I listed to be highly fragrant. But I can’t detect anything from them. Your nose might perceive these roses differently :-)

About half the teas have little or no scent for me (though some, like 'Mrs. B.R. Cant', are stupendously fragrant), but the most ironic one I can't smell is 'Alba Odorata' -- pretty much nothing, despite its name and reputation.

I was stunned to find out Tropicana is considered fragrant. I get nothing.

Myrrh scented roses smell medicinal to me.

Completely agree with Fig about the ability to detect certain fragrances. I had a recent discussion with a friend about "myrrh" scented roses. She describes them as smelling "powdery". And I'm talking about roses like Tamora, which are strongly "myrrh". I tried to give examples of licorice candy, anise and fennel as examples, but she absolutely couldn't make the connection to those fragrances, I think mostly, because she couldn't smell them either, although she said she remembered the smell of her mom's licorice candy. So interesting!

BTW Diana, Tropicana was one of my first 4 roses back in the early 90s, and I never detected a scent.

John - very good explanation!!

I can't smell tea fragrances in roses. Those roses are scentless to me.

@rosecanadian The tea rose scent seems to be one that many people can't detect. I suspect it's because it's one of the less complex rose perfumes. Since it contains fewer compounds, the chances are better that any one person is missing the olfactory receptors for those few chemicals.

In highly complex perfumes like in some of the David Austins, the chances are better that you can detect at least some of the components. But I also think DA descriptions of scent are somewhat overboard, lol. Myrrh/jasmine/raspberry/lemon/peach/tea/fruity/licorice/apple/ mango/elderflower/old rose/musk...I've seen as many as five or six of those applied to one DA rose, and I SERIOUSLY doubt the average nose detects them all. I suspect DA employs at least one "super nose", and their descriptions leave the rest of us doubting ourselves, lol.

Carol, I love the Tea fragrance, which smells quite like sniffing a black tea bag but a little sweeter. I am curious if black tea has much fragrance for you?

i also dont detect fragrance from Reine de Violettes; I keep waiting for it to mature as a plant to release fragrance, but maybe i just cant detect it. Star of the Republic mostly has blooms without fragrance but ocassionally produces a blooms that is incredibly scented of peppery lemons. for this reason, i keep waiting for RdV to also give me something

Julia Child has no scent for me. It also has no color when the Sacramento heat hits, which is why I shovel pruned it years ago.
I'm always surprised to see it's one of many people's favorite!
Carla in Sac

Fig - yes, good point...they probably do have a super nose person. And when we normals try to detect the scent... ???? LOL

Stephanie - I've never smelled black tea. LOL I don't like hot beverages of any kind...so I don't brew tea. But, I'm curious too! Peppery lemons!!! Oh, that sounds interesting!

Stephanie, I can sometimes detect a lemony undertone in Star of the Republic. But I don't get the pepper notes, lol. The more obvious scents to me are old rose with a hint of myrrh. But this one is very variable for me, ranging from almost no scent, to strong and wafting. Mine is only two years old (third Spring coming up), so I have high hopes.

Carol, Next time you come across a black tea bag see if it has scent for you. I have a friend that cannot tolerate hot beverages either so it is definitely a thing but a rarer trait I think. Someday they will find the gene for it like they did with the trait of “cilantro tasting like soap” I love cilantro; not soapy to me. I have a 1yr old Cl. Crimson Glory, which is potent “old rose”, but I only get this one scent type and nothing else. It just put out two spring blooms and they are the same scent as its first blooms last fall. I wonder if others experience more than just “old rose” for it?

John, Interesting that you detect myrrh in Star of the Republic. Myrrh is a scent I detect well. Paperwhite narcissus are overwhelmingly strong to me. Lady of Shallot and Golden Celebration often smell only of myrrh to me, but much more pleasant than paperwhites. The one scented SotR bloom I brought indoors did indeed waft across the whole room. I am hoping mine is more consistent in the fragrance department with age, but I wonder how much soil and weather effects fragrance?

Stephanie, to my nose Crimson Glory is one of the most delicious, with an incredibly powerful Damask perfume that seems to only exist in certain hybrid teas. The stamens are clove-scented, so as the mature flower unfurls, a heady damask-clove perfume starts wafting on the air although the perfume intensity of older blooms seems diminished if you stick your nose in them. IMHO, few roses do this powerful Damask scent as well as Crimson Glory.

There are different roses for different noses. I like Firefighter a lot. It is an amazingly vigorous bloom factory, but has more of a one-note raspberry fragrance to my nose.

'Mirandy', a "grandchild" of 'Crimson Glory', also has a powerful, wafting Damask scent. I have mine growing own-root in a large pot in my driveway (she, for some reason, loathes my garden's soils, though other roses like them just fine) and my neighbor, who is addicted to that scent, is always coming over for a whiff when the rose is in bloom, which is almost constantly during the season.

Catspa, I know Mirandy well since it was my grandmother’s favorite red hybrid tea. It has a lovely strong perfume of damask mixed with sweet fruit to my nose

I have been surprised over the years that many dark red/crimson hybrid teas grow well or well enough on their own roots. Espevially when grown as pot pets, which is how I prefer to enjoy them!

I grew Julia Child in 10a, and never detected anything resembling a scent.

Don Juan, on the other hand, was always fragrant, even in summer heat.

As for nose-sense in general, cilantro is pure soap to me. i pick it out of my Thai soup and salsa.

I love, love the smell of licorice, and have fennel (similar scent) all over the yard, but Julia Child smells much more fruity to me. White Licorice does smell like licorice. Wollerton Old Hall so far has no scent to me, but it could be too young.

I know I detect fruit scents much more easily than "tea" or other rose scents. I love that David Austin and others, even helpmefind often has scent descriptions instead of "strong." Then I can tell if I am going to detect it or not, which is very helpful when ordering baby bands.

Pretty much any Tea.

@fig_insanity Z7a E TN

"The tea rose scent seems to be one that many people can't detect. I suspect it's because it's one of the less complex rose perfumes. Since it contains fewer compounds, the chances are better that any one person is missing the olfactory receptors for those few chemicals."

Interesting to think that, if you consider a more complex rose perfume, two people could both detect "the smell", but they would each be detecting a different mix of chemicals. Even if you try to make a comparison to a common reference, like "a black tea bag", there's a good likelihood that that reference point smells different to each person!

(It's like trying to verbally explain color purple to a person blind from birth - it's hard, possibly impossible, and even if try, you will never know for sure if you succeeded.)

I guess that the more chemicals, the higher the chance that there is overlap between the two noses' perceptions. So maybe the chance of common experience is higher when discussing a more complex perfume.

Steve - well said, and so interesting! :)

I haven't read all the comments, but I wanted to share my experience with ispahan. I have never smelled this rose. Even though it says it's very fragrant. Until thise year. It has a lovely fragrance, but I can, for some reason, only smell it, when it's humid. I can't detect it at any other time. So try different weather situations, until you get to smell it.

I do love the tea fragrance, when I can detect it, I think early morning is best, I could just eat it up, it smells so good.

I’m always amazed by the glowing reviews of the fragrance of Munstead Wood. In my garden, the fragrance is light and when present smells like automatic dish detergent to me. Not very pleasant at all.

Don Juan and Miss AAB have been listed as ’heavily fragrant’ everywhere for half a century. I never get a more than a slight or at best moderate scent from either one, and I’ve smelled them all over the country. I do think they are outstanding cultivars that deservedly stood the test of time.

Agree with ann beck about Julia Child’s fruitiness.

To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen:

“I know Madame Anisette. She is in my garden. You, Ms. Child, are no Madame Anisette”.

I cannot describe Julia Child’s scent. It is lovely though

@SylviaWW 9a Hot dry SoCal wow how interesting! i am opposite. i never detect any fragrance in Don Juan, but can alway detect a floral licorice note in Jula Childs blooms.