Now a frequent sight in your local garden centers is the lushly leafed, bud bursting, potted roses with delightful names such as "Blaze" and "First Prize". These are of course hybrids, climbers and Teas, of a different nature than the very fragrant Damask roses used in perfume making. One may even find an English (David Austin) rose such as "Heritage" which looks quite antique in form and grace but is really a recent hybrid. Still, gardeners can find extremely fragrant gems amongst these more modern hybrids. For many, locating a Damask rose is impossible. In addition, the thought of a once blooming rose is not very attractive, especially in front of the house (cottage) garden. So hybrids become more plausible.
A number of fragrance awards for flowers have actually been created on an international level. Roses are not surprisingly the main focus of many of these awards. Since awards prompt higher sales (usually), many times promotional material for award-winning roses will list all of the awards it has won. Some awards however are somewhat ambiguous. In America the major fragrance award for roses is the Gamble Fragrance Award. In its entire existence only a handful of roses have won and it has been years since a rose has won one of its awards. Double Delight was the last to date. Double Delight is also a very easy to find rose which can be grown in a container if you haven't garden space. Other popular and easy to locate roses include:
- Sunsprite
- Tiffany
- Chrysler Imperial
- Fragrant Cloud
The nice aspect of these awards is they are given to roses which supposedly will universally perform in a fragrant manner, no matter where they are grown. If you live in a very cold area, once again consider growing your hybrid roses in a container so that they can spend winter in a somewhat warmer environment than below 0 temperatures. The American Rose Association has also put out a list of top fragrant hybrid Tea roses which include the popular Mr. Lincoln and Miss All-American Beauty.
Even though these roses are supposed to be universally fragrant, many complain that a particular rose has little or no scent depending on the given location. Someone in another location may express the direct opposite. Geological differences may affect your roses' scent. To be sure if your potential new friend has scent appeal, only purchase a potted plant which is in bloom. This will allow you to smell the rose and make the decision on the spot.
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