If there are any scents to the plant parts to be perceived, Jay, they will be most discernable early morning when it's just warming up and there is plenty of humidity remaining in the air. About the same time you would expect the flowers to be their most fragrant is when you should be able to notice any scents the growing and flowering parts may have. Choose the most tender, succulent new growth; sepals and peduncles; rub them gently and smell both your fingers as well as the plant parts. If there is any scented oil to be released, that should help you smell it. Some roses are intensely scented. Many others have little to absolutely none. Kim

Thanks for chiming in and helping out with this! Mendocino Rose - I think the color in this picture captures what it looks like to my eye, but it's a first bloom and those can be notoriously variable from the eventual bloom of the plant. The bloom form is probably a better characteristic to judge, and if that doesn't match the ones you grow it's helpful to rule them out. Too bad Fellemberg and Alexander Girault don't look like a good match - I was looking forward to a monster pink OGR to put head-to-head against Madame Alfred Carriere (though what I'd do with three of them is another question). Nastarana - thanks for the feedback about Etude. Somehow the petals didn't look right, and the thornless canes have been a puzzle. One of the other mystery roses that I think is the same variety has mostly thornless canes with two normal-sized thorns at random locations but it doesn't look like the canes will grow into their thorns over time. It's just the variability of "mostly thornless" I suspect. I appreciate the help and any other suggestions folks may have! Cynthia

Thanks for all the help, folks! That's a good point that the striped roses tend to be variable in color and not to over judge the one bloom, particularly on a brand new band. I'm happy with any descendants of Ferdinand Pichard, Christopher, since I can't seem to keep the parent himself alive in my yard. So far, there seems to be consensus that Papageno is a good working name for this one. I actually like the prospect of these mystery roses, mgleason, since it could be literally anything in their catalog and it tends to stretch me to try roses I wouldn't normally buy. A few years ago, the mystery rose was "Rookie", a compact short flori/mini white rose, and it really has turned out to be a nice steady bloomer and great bloom form. I probably wouldn't have bought Robin Hood or Sophisticate (from two and three years ago) on their own, but they ramble nicely in the part shade, and they really make a statement in the neighbor's yard where they asked me to expand my shade area into their side of the yard. You're right that I might be able to ask Rogue Valley, though I find that their phone personnel are lovely people and helpful with orders, but they don't seem to know the details of the roses if they're not labeled. I don't know if Rogue Valley sends mystery plants because the labels have been lost or misplaced in propagation (hence they don't know any more than we do), or because they're overstocked. On my side, it would be more convenient to call these "our choice" rather than "mystery" roses and leave the tags in if it's the latter situation, but I don't mind the unknown for the first year. My only dilemma comes in where to plant something that hasn't bloomed and I have no clue what it is. The unknown mini from this year was easy to place, but I have a vaguely HT looking bush that I had to guess where to put, since I rarely if ever move roses once planted. Besides, I have all you lovely helpful folks to help me identify the roses each year! I challenge any rose company, except maybe Burlington and the dearly departed Vintage, to have the breadth of expertise in identifying a wide range of roses that we have here on GW! Cynthia

It seems I haven't taken many pics of my 'Napoleon' -- probably because it's in an unfinished area. But, in any case, here they are. As a newly-repotted band back in 2013. One year later, ravaged by sawfly larvae. Also last year, far left corner of this pic, which was taken more to show the coreopsis. These two were taken this year, during the first flush in late May. Note that the petals are very light in the centers, darker at the outside. As the season progressed and the intensity of the sun increased, they turned darker pink and had something of the quilled form shown in your earlier pic. The difference with mine is that the stamens become clearly visible. This may be because my plant is in a south-facing full-sun spot, and perhaps your plant is being shaded until it fills out more. Also note that there's very little sawfly larvae damage. It took a year for the pests to find the roses, and another year for the beneficials to find the pests. I haven't (yet) resorted to pesticides, so things sorted themselves out. I didn't manage to capture the prickles very well, but in your pics, they look very much like what I find on my 'Napoleon'. They are stout, hooked, and numerous enough to catch you. And if you were wondering, mine came from Vintage Gardens. :-) ~Christopher