I'm looking for a rose with a strong scent. Any advice?
I have to admit that I'm not much of a rose person even though I know the local deer would just love it if I'd plant a whole bunch for them to snack on.
The search for the perfect rose has revolved mainly around the look of the flowers and has been tremendously successful in giving us a stunning array of colors and shapes to admire. Scent, however, is a tricky thing and plant breeders are still trying to work out how to get hybridized roses to smell as strongly as their non-hybridized counterparts.
As a result, modern rose gardens smell nothing like those which were enjoyed in Elizabethan times when their intoxicating perfumes were the inspiration for so many works of literature.
If fragrance is important to you, you'll likely find what you are looking for in what are known as the "Old Fashioned" or "Old Garden" varieties which were in existence long before hybridization became the rule. Among these roses, the Bourbons are considered to have the finest fragrance. David Austin roses are also coveted for their fragrance, which is good news. In the time since they were first introduced, they've become horticultural superstars and are becoming increasingly available in garden centres.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me at vanessa@gardenmuse.ca.
