I am very interested in planting some very fragrant roses. I have a lot of orange pink roses and daylilies so I am leaning towards white or the purple to mauve colors so they don't clash in my garden. So many roses are listed as fragrant but none of mine actually fill the air with scent. I can only smell them when I stick my nose right in them. I have Tahitian Sunset and sometimes I can smell it faintly when I am standing close to it. I have had Peace in the past and don't remember it having much scent at all, just slight when I stuck my nose in it. I am wishing for one that you can smell from across the yard on the breeze like how mock orange or oriental lilies and hyacinths are. I know they have to exist. Please give me some ideas! Thanks

I'm not sure that any roses could be smelled from across the yard. The fragrance of First Kiss and Cecile Brunner wafts out at me when I walk past them, and I don't have to stick my nose into a bloom to smell them, but I don't think they could be smelled from far away.

Of course, if they did have that strong a scent, I'd probably get rid of them, so I'm the wrong person to ask. I got rid of my Mock Orange, my Jasmine, and my Clematis armandii because the scent was too strong. The lilacs are the next to go.

My two most fragrant are Granada and Sheila's Perfume..........

Thanks, Zuzu I understand. Sometimes if I am having sinus issues the strong scents will really bother me. So I can understand if people don't like it. I will look up the one's you have mentioned.
Paul I tried Sheila's Perfume and it didn't survive the winter here. I am not one to go through a lot of effort with winter protection. I just let the pine needles and oak leaves that blow against the fence where the roses are, stay. A local nursery told me they stopped carrying it because of it's lack of hardiness here, so I'm not alone. I'll check out Granada, I think I had that one on my wishlist before.

Help me find has Granada listed as hardy to zone 7 as does Heirloom roses. That is why I think I never got it.

I think my garden is 5b here in Utah. I have lost a few roses to really harsh winters but have had most survive with no special care. Granada has been in my garden 20+ years. I can smell it when I get within a 5 foot radius and the fragrance is superb.

I picked up a couple of Kordes roses from the "Parfuma" series 'First Crush' and 'Summer Romance'. Both are deliciously fragrant and showing excellent disease resistance, but are both pinks, one soft blush, the other medium pink.

I think its a matter of finding varieties that will get large enough to have flushes of loads of blooms- that's when you'll really detect the scent from several feet away. When my Leontine Gervais was huge and in full bloom, that light, sweet scent was detectable all around the front yard- it was wonderful! And smelling an individual bloom, I wouldn't describe the scent as strong, but it is pronounced in mass.

Bourbons tend to have a pronounced fragrance, although many are one time bloomers. I have one called Banshee that I typically smell before I see it blooming- as soon as the buds start to open (even just one), I detect the scent from several feet away.

Paul2032 said:I think my garden is 5b here in Utah. I have lost a few roses to really harsh winters but have had most survive with no special care. Granada has been in my garden 20+ years. I can smell it when I get within a 5 foot radius and the fragrance is superb.

Maybe it has to do with how wet our springs are. Sometimes we have really warm weather and everything thaws and then refreezes and sometimes we have no snow cover when we getting below zero. Not sure but I have already lost a few different ones that were listed as hardy to z5 some places but only z6 or 7 in others. Maybe they would have been fine if I gave them good protection but I know myself and I won't. I always have it in my head to do but never get it done. Fall is a busy time for me with my kids and my job.

Neal thanks so much, I have been searching the web and most of the ones I have seen recommended for fragrance are one time bloomers. Not sure if anyone here has any to comment but some I have on my list to consider are Margaret Merril, and Madame Hardy, Madame Plantier.
These I found just looking at Rogue Valley catalog Alba Maxima, Chesire (listed as very fragrant at rogue valley - not white but has the colors I like.) Palentine has Memoire listed as very fragrant.
Still on the hunt.

Meredith, I was just out weeding and kept detecting the loveliest rose scent in the air. It took a while to narrow down where it was coming from because there aren't many fragrant ones blooming now. First I thought it must be from a couple of blooms on hybrid tea, Beverly, which does smell heavenly. Then I detected it again working in another area, and I'm pretty sure it was Sunsprite/Freisia. The Japanese beetles allowed me to enjoy a few blooms from that one today, and the fragrance was a bonus!

That's a pretty yellow!

It is nice and bright, and doesn't fade like a lot of yellows. It is showing excellent disease resistance too.

My favorite has always been Don Juan. The petals feel like velvet.

a couple maybe worth considering
Ebb Tide
Purple, but it is a reddish purple, very fragrant, spring flush causes visitors to question what smells so good from across the yard, which can be difficult to pinpoint because so many things smell so good at that time of year, and it regularly ends up being this rose

Winter hasn't killed it yet, although some bad years it pretty much had to start over from about 6 inches...

New for me this year,
Marie Pavie
I am loving it, but cannot yet evaluate it's winter hardiness (fingers crossed)
it is small and cute and smells divine

Seems to be a blooming machine, this was 8-2

Grenada is descended from Tiffany - a very fragrant soft pink hybrid tea that is borderline hardy here in 6a. I will try it again, perhaps a quality grafted one from a Canadian nursery.

I love the fragrance of nicotina. I plant it with my roses, Kind of cheating, but I love fragrant plants!

I grew an own root Grenada that unfortunately didn't survive the moves. It had stunning blooms. It was less fragrant than Tiffany for me.

Souvenir de Malmaison, a bourbon rose, was the most fragrant rose I have grown. It needs lots of winter protection.

I LOVE Jasmine. I have to spoil it in a pot overwinter. My Jasmine didn't survive moving either. Neither did my Gardenia.

I survived the move. So did Winston the pug. And I have room for new roses!

Added Souvenir de Malmaison to my list!
I was eyeing Ebb Tide so that is good to hear!
I usually get at least one or two reseeded Nicotiana since growing them a few years back. This year I see a seedling but it still isn't flowering. I have a self seeded Mirabilis (4 o'clock) that just started flowering. I haven't noticed a scent yet but I'm sure I will soon. The roses bloom at a time when the dianthus are almost finished and would fill a scentless gap I have here. I am a houseplant killer although I am getting better. I have managed to keep alive a variegated polyanthus for many years, and a christmas cactus plus some sort of lipstick plant that has never flowered for me. I have killed many different Jasmines I have manged to overwinter a Plumeria and Mandevilla for a few years but most other things I have killed. I pretty much d good with things that too much water would kill because I forget to water them for so long anything else ends up dead! lol

I've considered Ebb Tide for a long time, but Dirtdorphins- your photo has convinced me I must have it! Gorgeous photo! And hearing that it is as fragrant as described in catalogs makes it even better.

Thank you Neal
Go for it!

Is your Ebb Tide grafted or own root? I have seen it sold both ways. There are a couple of other dark purple roses that people compare to Ebb Tide. Twilight Zone is one, I think. I don't grow any, but may in the future.

There is a white sport of Souvenir de la Malmaison called 'Kronprincessin Viktoria'
Rose (Rosa 'Kronprinzessin Viktoria')

Don Juan is a good suggestion. I planted one this year. It is finally blooming a bit. The plant was an early season "body bag" rose. It is doing well considering its provenance. RosesAreRed, another member who lives near me, has a lovely climbing Don Juan rose. That is what inspired me to finally get it, now that I have room.

Double Delight, a red and white hybrid tea, is fragrant.

I haven't heard of Kordes Parfuma rose series. I will have to look into it! Kordes has bred some wonderful cold tolerant roses!

That white sport of Souvenir de la Malmaison looks nice! Thanks for the ideas. I saw Westerland (Which I like since t is that color I am in love with) in person at a nursery and I thought I could smell it, however they had so many roses I thought there was a chance it was just all the roses combined that was so strong.

I thought you were looking for purple or white
Westerland is awesome! I am so glad I got that one, it is new for me too (last year).
I don't know what color it is

but I am in love with it too! (sorry for the photo bomb--just a testament of my love for it one day )
Good fragrance--definitely carries within about 10' area