Gently rub that red new growth and smell it and your fingers! "Sweet, cedar" and it sticks to your hands for hours and after many hand washings!

For me the foliage is a very special component of this rose and I'm not really sure why I like it so much, except that it seems to proclaim "I'm a very healthy and sturdy rose", and it also reminds me a bit of my Austin hybrid rugosa, Wild Edric (which does not rust in my garden, roseseek). Alas, I tried the rubbing test and smelled nothing, but it's a young rose comprised of a single stalk and you can be sure I'll be testing it again later in the year when I hope she's on the way to being a big girl.

The foliage is special to me, too. Two big bushes "guard" the door to the garage, both covered with this . . . I'll check for the foliage, but I don't have much sense of smell. :-(

You'll probably find it easier to detect the plant scents the first warmish, sunny morning after the rains when the sun begins warming the walls behind the plants and the plants themselves, and the air remains a bit humid so the oils and alcohols creating the scents can volatilize and not completely evaporate.

I've long considered Gloire des Rosomanes and Grandmother's Hat and family strongly related. Their growth habits, flower and plant scents, foliage, wood and hips are all very similar. Can you guess whose foliage is which from the photos?

The first is the SJB Gloire des Rosomanes and second, Tina Marie, both from you. Thank you!

Their foliage does look very similar although I gather one is considered a China/hybrid Bourbon and GH a hybrid perpetual. GdR is a rose I'd never grow as I dislike bright red roses and GH is my dream rose, but GdR does make a very handsome shrub on the photos I've seen.

Ingrid -- GdeR really does make a beautiful, disease-free, ever-blooming shrub. I wouldn't be without it,

Jeri, if I had it I'm afraid I'd have to cut off its bright red flowers. Besides, my rose growing area now is very small, nothing like before, since it has to be right outside my back door. I fear that the roses that are already planted, and the five more I'm waiting for from ARE, will be terribly crowded as it is. At this stage I can't be bothered by sensible considerations, although in retrospect I should have stuck to polyanthas. There are some beautiful ones but in the midst of the fever of ordering roses again I forgot to be practical.

OMG! I didnt know this! I will have to go and smell the young leaves in the morning! Thank you for sharing! Love Grandmother’s Hat! Thank you Kim and Carol for the stick which became a 5’ wide shrub!