Double Delight has an amazing fragrance

Nothing tops Double Delight for fragrance, IMHO. IIt is a black spotter, but you expressed disregarding this aspect.

BTW, Marie Pavie is fragrant, for sure, but not powerfully so.

Moses

Rouge Royale is always fragrant for me. Velvet fragrance impressed me a band the year I had it . Savannah had great fragrance and probably the best health of of all three, I just didn't like it as much in the heat when the color was salmonish. Ebb Tide is also fragrant.

My favorite fragrances includeinclude many that you listed andand t.hese.:

Wollerton Old Hall (a climber that some prune to a shrub). Mix of anise, butterscotch, grapefruit.

Poet's Wife, fruity strong. I grow mine in a pot.

Princess Charlene de Monaco, very fruity and old rose.

I also love Rou.ge Royal.

Choosing only one that is not on your list, and for a container, I would choose Scentuous for its rich bourbon fragrance. It will do well in a container and stay compact.

Others to consider (yes, breaking your rule of choosing only one), would be Desdemona, for sweet Hendrick’s gin and tonic fragrance that is always present (not fading in the heat), and Alnwick Castle, for fresh raspberry fragrance, although maybe too big for a container.

Scent perception is the most subjective of our senses, affected even by our memories. Remember that rose scent is not only personal, and dependent on which scent receptors are dominant in YOUR nasal passages, but is also affected by humidity, time of day, age of bud/bloom/plant, weather/drought/heat, even soil pH. That said, here are the ones I've grown that most everyone would agree have a strong perfume:

For beauty of bud and flower, with wonderful fragrance, search out Tiffany. It's STILL the best pink HT for fragrance after all these years. And healthy, too.

I second (or third, lol) the nomination of Double Delight, but it can't compare health-wise to Tiffany here in Blackspot Central. I no longer grow it.

Others you might want to sniff:

Hansa, a rugosa. Several other rugosas are extremely fragrant.

Fragrant Cloud

Barbara Streisand (terrible BS here)

Quietness (strong scent *most* of the time)

Maria Shriver (very strong perfume, but hard to find)

Oklahoma (yummy)

Grandmother's Hat (an old, found rose. Hybrid Perpetual. When she's good, she's positively naughty)

Bolero

Gruss an Coburg

Kazanlik (actually used for perfume making)

Pink Peace (another healthy pink)

Gertrude Jekyll (older Austin. Somewhat persnickity, but smells just like Comte de Chambord/Mme Boll, which is one of its parents)

****Brindabella Purple Prince (the winner among newer introductions. Its positively heady scent will rock you. BUT...it has to mature a year or two to produce that scent. The first year mine had ZERO perfume. Weird).

If you have room for a climber, look at (and smell!) Secret Garden Musk climber. Few roses "waft" like it.

Another one is Cl. Etoile de Hollande, a glorious once-bloomer that fills the garden (and my garden is BIG) with perfume.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but these are the standouts among my 250+ varieties.

EDIT: I'll probably have to add more as I have time to think about it, but Barcelona/Francis Dubreuil (in commerce as) is wonderfully fragrant. But for a 25 gallon pot you'd need at least three, lol. On the other hand, since he's a petite little thing, having him in a pot would put him where you can easily get your nose to his level. Mine has never exceeded 30 inches tall, in a good year.

Am I crazy, but didnt find the damasks to be all that fragrant. Ispahan and Summer Damask were present in Brooklyn Botanical and swarmed by bees, and Im sure from the the entire bush could be extracted a ton of fragrant essence as there were many, but even a handful of the blooms cant compete to one bloom of comte de chambord to my nose for example👃 😅👀

I love PJP lI. I am not in your climate but it did great for me. I left mine when I moved. I regret it. I plan to get a new one asap. It bloomed all the time and smelled wonderful! I like white and light pastel colored roses that kinda glow in evening/moon gardens!

Princess Charlene de Monaco is another one that is very fragrant and a good bloomer. I have three!

My Ispahan was only in its first blooming year last year, but I also got no fragrance from it. Maybe with time 🤷🏽‍♀️

Mishu, again, scent is dependent on so many factors. What time of day were you there? Was it hot? Dry? Were the blooms full blown? A mix of buds and mature? The nature of scent will change through the day, even going from damask, to musk, to tea, to citrus, depending on the variety and the individual scent molecules produced by that plant, AND your ability to even perceive them. Like I said, it's complicated. The most persistent rose scents tend to be the least volatile ones, with the more volatile oils burning off first. I did a whole dissertation on the subject on another thread a while back, lol. I'll see if I can find it and link to it.

So no, you're not crazy. What you perceive is personal to you, and you'll have to find the roses that match up to your ability to smell them and match your preferences.

Fig_insanity great point and insight! Ty

I'm surprised that none of these are on your list: 'Mister Lincoln', 'Tiffany', 'Double Delight' and 'Fragrant Cloud', the last being one of the best of all. My personal favorite it still 'Tiffany' after all these years - a rare combination of beauty, good health, vigor, and outstanding fragrance.

@Paul smelled Lincoln, but gave the edge to Chrysler which Im growing, parent of Mr Lincoln. Looks like I will need to look into/ smell the rest!
Fascinating with all the Double Delight comments, need to try to smell 👃 this some where. I believe it’s available In Elizabeth garden in Connecticut for me to smell maybe as well as Fragrant Cloud🤔 Thanks!

@Paul Barden Paul, Tiffany is the first one on my list above. DD and FC are on there, too. Our tastes overlap quite a bit. But I knew that, lol. I just flat out forgot Mr. Lincoln, since I no longer grow it. It was a victim of RRD years ago and I never replaced it. It's another that is a martyr to blackspot here.

Found the thread where I commented about scent perception. Linking to it sure beats having to type it all again! lol. My comment is at the top as the featured answer.

Famous roses whose perfume you can’t detect

Darn it! Looks like Double Delight and Fragrant Cloud is not there, but Tiffany is. Will check it out this weekend

https://www.elizabethparkct.org/gardens/list_of_roses

The most fragrant roses to my nose in my garden are Lemon Spice, Earth Angel, Hansa, Jude the Obscure, and Rose de Rescht. It's subjective because I can't smell much on Tiffany.

Goodness, this inquiry provoked lots of comments. There's nothing like getting everyone's sense of smell involved. I third Rouge Royale, the most fragrant rose in my garden, and I grow a lot of fragrant roses. Diane

I have a couple friends who grow Double Delight that are scentless. From the pictures they should be the right rose. Fragrant Cloud is the rose with the strongest fragrance I have smelt. But somehow roses in the nursery always smell stronger.

I once smelt Lincoln in a friend’s yard. Very surprised it was only lightly fragrant, although it looks much more sumptuous with velvet petals than my Firefighter. Firefighter smells very strong sweet perfume especially in rain.

I second Brindabella Purple Prince is very fragrant.

If you like lychee sweet smell, I highly recommond Beverly. It is a strong sweet smell everyone appreciates a lot.

Perfume factory and Evelyn both have great strong fragrance too.

I am eagerly waiting for my Tiffany, Chrysler Imperial, and Oklahoma to bloom

Diane I am getting Rouge Royal per your recommendation for my red & white garden. I cant wait to smell it!

I agree about Mr Lincoln! The blooms are just HUGE here and I love the fragrance. It grows more like a climber in my climate but probably could be maintained like a large shrub if I really tried. It is a very tough rose and put up with a ton of neglect in my last garden especially when we were moving..going back and forth for awhile over about a 5 mo period. I originally got it because my grandmother really loved it.

There’s nothing like smelling a rose in person. I had memores of Mr. Lincoln being the most fabulous fragrance ever, so I last year I bought one. When it bloomed, the fragrance brought back the memory of the time I was just intoxicated by it. But then I realized that it was no longer my favorite.

Then there are times when other people rave about a rose fragrance and it isn’t to my taste or I smell it only mildly. Rouge Royale is one of these. i wish it smelled strongly to me, but to my usually very sensitive nose, it was faint. I gave mine away this past weekend after growing it for a couple of seasons.

Keep in mind also, that roses often smell differently at different times of the day and in different growing conditions. Glamis Castle smelled great at the Heirloom Roses display garden (when they had it), but an awful stench when in my garden. I find it best to sniff in the morning just as the sun starts to warm the petals.

I don't grow Rouge Royale, either. A friend has a glorious plant of RR, but the scent to me has an odd component that I can't ID. It's not bad, not even unpleasant, but one of those things that niggles at my hind-brain, lol. It would never prevent me from growing it, but I'd sure love to know what my smeller is detecting.

It's definitely *memorable*.

All of my roses were planted last or this year except for Julia Child, so they are still young. Many of them are somewhat fragrant, but one rose‘s fragrance really wafts, and that is Riseup Lilac Days. I don’t need to sniff it. Whenever I open the front door I am greeted with the strong and refreshing grapefruit spice. It is absolutely healthy and clean

I love Ebb Tide, but of your two original choices, definitely PJPII for fragrance.

And I agree with you on hating myrrh!

To me, best fragrances that you don't grow: New Zealand, Lemon Spice, Barbra Streisand, Fragrant Cloud, Secret, Tiffany, Jude the Obscure, Papa Meilland, Mister Lincoln, Oklahoma, Double Delight, Velvet Fragrance, Sterling Silver, Stainless Steel, Mme. Isaac Pereire, Compassion, Perfume Delight, Maria Shriver, Sharifa Asma, Gertrude Jekyll, Radio Times, Jardins de Bagatelle, Paul Shirville, Nicole Carol Miller. EDITED to add: Lagerfeld... how could I have forgotten it?

Thank you Susan for your recommendations, if you had to pick one which would it be? 😅 …

For me the super duper fragrant roses are Double Delight, Fragrant Cloud, Sugar Moon and Neil Diamond. When they are in a mixed vase folks never fail to single them out for their scent.

There are a few lesser known and lesser grown roses in my garden that might equal them, but these are the four I always recommend. At one of the nurseries I frequented, the manager would load up on Sugar Moon and Neil Diamond, because when they bloomed people would sniff them and they’d sell out.

What are the best types of food for Roses in containers? Thank you.

Definitely synthetic for containers!

Most potting soils are essentially not “living” compared to regular soil. From what I have noticed from friends and family and my own container roses are that they are thriving with good old miracle gro potting soil and fertilizer, which needs to be done on a weekly schedule.

Unless you use all native soil on containers with all those drainage and aerating holes in them (forgot the brand) then I would understand the case for organic fertilizer, otherwise pointless tbh.

@noseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque) I've been afraid to try Glamis Castle after reading reports of it smelling like dirty diapers lol

From the list you gave I think you would love Pope John Paul II. In my climate my tree rose is very fragrant and lemony, and blooms constantly.

Carla in Sac

This thread is great! You have a nice collection of roses there already. I will cast another vote for Neil Diamond - my favorite of the 5 or 6 fragrant varieties I have grown so far.

@Mishu Sorry I didn't reply yesterday, but that is my pared-down list. Too hard to pick one, since they are each so unique. I wanted to mention that I edited my post to add Lagerfeld, one of the all-time greats in fragrance. I was working in the yard today and realized I forgot it :-D

Of roses you don’t have but really do need to smell at some point….All of these would be great for pots:

Francis Dubreuil/ Barcelona: a small but mighty bush with the most gloriously complex and addictive modern damask fragrance. This is the king of fragrance of all red roses, in my opinion. And believe me I have grown, and loved, many red roses.

Scentsational (miniature): I can’t believe this rose has all but disappeared from commerce. I think only Burlington has it at the moment. Each tiny, perfectly formed blossom produces an intensely sweet lychee and lily of the valley perfume so strong it can practically clear your sinuses. This is currently my favorite rose to pluck and carry with me throughout the day.

Sweet Chariot: this one has a lovely wafting perfume. Much like Marie Pavie, it is only moderately strong up close but has the magical ability to float on the air ten, twenty, thirty feet away and envelope you in a cloud of bliss.

Eugene de Beauharnais: a lovely little Bourbon rose that is also surprisingly hard to find at the moment. It blooms up a storm and has the most amazing candy-like rose fragrance.

Among larger roses that would need planting in the ground or a very large pot, my current favorite is Well Being. I love its unique ruffled form and complex, heady fragrance of ripe peaches, grapefruit and clove.

If I had a larger garden and lived in a warmer climate, I would have several specimens of the single-petaled form of Rosa moschata. I’m not sure I can think of a rose with a more penetrating and far-reaching fragrance than this one.

And not to mention that I agree with so many choices that others have already mentioned above!

I live in gardening zone 5b, Central IL, and while I love roses, I despise plants that require babying. With this in mind, I only grow own-root (not grafted) roses, usually rated for zones 3, 4, 5, and sometimes 6 if I have a protected backdrop to plant them in front of for frigid winter wind and ice/cold protection. Every rose I grow in a container gets placed inside an unheated garage once the cold sets in during late autumn. I keep an eye on moisture, only giving some when the medium gets fairly dry. when it does snow, I bring a shovelful of snow inside the garage and set the snow on top of the pots' soil.

I love scented roses, continuous blooming roses, and I try to include Rosa Rugosa Alba or Rubra for their hip production, which I use in jams and jellies.

My favorite place to order roses from is HeirloomRoses.com as they have a wide variety of every hardy rose grown on its own root-stock. Plus, they often hold sales, which I like!

I've had wonderful success with Canadian roses, Griffith Buck roses, a few German and French varieties, miniature roses (which are always grown on their own roots), and a few more.

The adage: "the 1st year they sleep; the 2nd year they creep; and the 3rd year they leap" holds true in that during the first year, they spend energy growing a good root system, the second year they begin to put on growth above the soil, and by the third year they should be leaping toward plant growth and flower production... which is, in essence, the plant trying to reproduce via bloom/pollination and subsequently seed.

Roses are heavy feeders and thirsty plants. To avoid mildew and other issues from water on leaves, I water using soaker hoses when there is no direct sun on the plants, the dripping pointed downward, the hose slightly buried in the pine bark mulch I use to help keep moisture around the roots. I use several inches of decent mulch. I feed them using Bayer 2 in 1 systemic Rose & Flower Care which also helps keeps early season aphids and white flies from harming newly forming buds. I also have chickens and ducks, so I take advantage of the fertilizer to be had in the form of the duck's dirty pool water, which is watered down and won't burn the roots. I call it "duck poop soup". It helps quite a bit. I do avoid chicken manure, which is too fresh and will burn plants and their roots. Duck manure, especially watered down in a baby pool, due to its low acidic level, can be used right away and is natural/organic.

Tea Roses don't do well in my zone, but so many others do extremely well! I have "Therese Bugnet" planted near our mailbox, which is very fragrant! The "Rosa Rugosas" are very fragrant, as well as giving of decent sized hips. "Darlow's Enigma" is fragrant. "Alchymist" is very scented! There are plenty of others, but those are some of my favorites.

As far as pruning goes, since we live on a small farm, I have space to allow growth, so I am only concerned with removing dead canes, and I am sure to seal each diagonal cut to avoid borer bees and other insects boring into the cut canes.

Miniature roses often grow into lovely little shrubs covered with color! Sometimes, these can be found sold in 4" or 6" pots as indoor plants, but since they are own-root I plant them directly out in my garden as perennials. Plus, they really don't do well as house plants, requiring 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day.

"Quadra" is another favorite... deep red quartered blooms that smell very nice, and look so pretty!

I hope this adds a little bit to the advice given by everyone else!

Happy Gardening!