Your nose knows: fragrant roses

Here are 7 ways to re-discover fragrant roses to add a touch of elegance to your garden

1. Rose Breeders

David Austin Roses

David Austin® Roses are bred by crossing old garden roses with more modern roses to achieve the superb fragrance of the old-style rose varieties combined with the repeat flowering characteristics and wide color range of modern roses.

Everyone has a different perception of scent, but the 8 English Roses listed below are among the modern varieties David Austin Roses in the UK consider to be the most fragrant. All are available through nurseries, online, and through catalogs.

More fragrant roses at David Austin Roses here.

Meilland Roses

More fragrant roses from Meilland here.

George Delbard Roses

More fragrant George Delbard roses here.

2. Award winning fragrant rose choices

ARS Gamble Award Winners

The American Rose Society also searches out fragrant roses to highlight. Here are 6 of the past James Alexander Gamble Award winners for fragrance.

These awards are made by the ARS Prizes and Awards Committee for the roses considered the most fragrant in municipal and private gardens throughout the entire United States over a five-year period.

Full Gamble Award list at ARS here.

3. Rose Search Directory

The Help-Me-Find rose search directory is here.

This is a member-driven searchable database of every rose I’ve needed for 15 years. You can probably find a rose, garden, society, or nursery too.

4. Use Your Nose: The 5 fragrances

The best way to learn rose fragrance, of course, is to literally stop and smell the roses. In the absence of one-on-one instruction, the best way to teach your nose to know is to sniff along with the experts.

The following is a guide to the five fragrance types found in English Roses.

The descriptions come from a four-man fragrance team led by breeder David Austin, Sr., joined by president David Austin, Jr., senior rosarian Michael Marriott and British floral fragrance expert Robert Calkin.

These observations seek to identify the character of each fragrance type, and offer examples of English rose varieties that epitomize it.

Myrrh – This imposing scent has the aromatic, licorice warmth of sweet anise. Amongst roses, it is now almost exclusively found in the English Roses (especially the pinks and apricots), although there is an element of it in the fragrance of other plants, such as lilac and hawthorn. The name is believed to derive from Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely), which has sweet anise-scented leaves. Myrrh is a scent beloved by most, but to some it can be reminiscent of anise seed-based hospital-type, antiseptic creams. Indeed, myrrh serves as an interesting reminder that fragrance preference is subjective.

The best examples include: ‘Constant Spry’, ‘Scepter’d Isle’ and ‘Claire Austin’

Fruity – The rose is related to many fruits, including apples, pears, raspberries, strawberries and apricots. Fruity notes frequently appear in the fragrances of English roses of all colors, including those of apple, raspberry, strawberry, pear and lemon and even more exotic lychee and guava.

Best examples include: ’Lady Emma Hamilton’ and ‘Jude the Obscure’

Musk – Even a small amount of musk rose scent will perfume the air. The source of the romantic scent is frequently the flower stamens, where it readily shakes off and wafts through the air. Human noses are particularly sensitive to musk so we pick up the scent in even tiny quantities. Musk is most often found in rambler roses, where huge quantities of single flowers abound with prominent stamens.

Best examples include: ‘Snow Goose’ and ‘The Generous Gardener’

The Old Rose – Breeder David Austin’s own favorite rose fragrance is the classic old rose. To him it is the most alluring of all rose perfumes. This is the classic rose fragrance, absolutely delicious, the true “rose” fragrance that everyone loves. It is almost exclusively found in pink and red roses. 

The best examples include: ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ and ‘Harlow Carr’

Tea Rose – Often compared to the aromatic sensation one gets in opening a fresh packet of China Tea, this fragrance is sometimes so strong that other, softer notes only become apparent after the flower matures for a few days. In English Roses, the tea rose scent most frequently appears in the yellow and apricot roses.

Best examples include: ‘Graham Thomas’ and ‘Port Sunlight’. “

Source: David Austin Roses Press Releases

5. Grasse: home of roses as perfume

In Grasse France there is a museum called The International Perfume Museum in the hills northwest of Antibes with gardens filled with scents found in perfume.

What a delight to the nose. You can visit hundreds of fragrant roses that are on display.

Entry in 2019 was still 4€. The International Perfume Museum site is here.

6. Stay at a fragrance conservatory

In the Loire valley, The Château Du Rivau rosery is like no other, because all its garden roses are chosen for their fragrance.

This unique selection has led to the creation of a one-of-a-kind conservatory of 450 varieties – all fragrant.

Château Du Rivau’s site is here.

Expand your Loire adventure with side day-trips that are within 30 minutes of Chateau Le Riveau

(Show a Le Riveau full ticket = 1 reduced fare at each of these other historic sites.)

7. Uncover the history of fragrant roses

Scholars knew that roses were cherished for scent as far back as ancient Egypt.

Rose petals have been discovered in many of their tombs and even paintings of roses were discovered in the tomb of the pharaoh Thutmose IV, who was a ruler of the 18th dynasty.

Much later, during the colonization of North America, around 200 different species of roses were known by the Natives.

Today, around 35 species remain much like they were. For 4 centuries, the most roses transported from North America were the ones chosen for their strong and pleasant scents.

In the last part of the 20th century, fragrance had been engineered out of many available garden roses in the interest of emphasizing color and hardiness.

Luckily, at the request of a new generation of rose lovers, fragrance has made a strong comeback in the 21st century.

These aromatic gardens should give you plenty to think about when planning your next garden.

Everywhere I turn now, I find dedicated artisans in many crafts, but the legacy of fragrance from garden to boutique is precious.

I wish this was smell-a-vision, rather than just electrons as text, to convey an atmosphere. But, discovering such things is what travel to gardens is for, after all.

I hope this list helps you discover fragrant roses for your garden – whether by your own nose over the neighbor’s fence, by traveling to England or to France, or by researching colorful books & breeders catalogs beside the winter fire.

There are hundreds of these fragrant roses already in commerce that you can plant close to your walking or seating areas. And by being close, the scent will spread into those personal, quiet, contemplative spots.

Enjoy those memories.

Sources: Wikipedia, David Austin Roses, Meilland Roses and Creations, Castle Le Rivau, Musee de Grasse, ARS,