What is the most fragrant rose in your garden? This is ours…
This is ‘Comte de Chambord’ (or is it? See Edit at the end of this post) the most fragrant rose in our garden. Granted, I am only growing somewhere around 60 different varieties, and some of them haven’t even bloomed yet (I’m looking at you own-root Austins) but I truly doubt any will beat this scent. This is the kind of fragrance that turns the reluctant rose gardener into a true believer. When John William Waterhouse painted The Soul of the Rose I imagine the subject was being transported by a rose such as this. True, ‘Comte de Chambord’, in our garden, can be a fussy little thing: prone to black spot, slow to rebound from any semblance of pruning, blooms that ball up or rot in wet weather (you can see a little browning to the petals in this photo taken just moments ago) and wilts in extreme heat but I still enjoy ours because when she blooms she reminds me why roses will always be the Queen of the Flowers.
What is YOUR most fragrant rose in your garden?
PS: ‘Comte de Chambord’ rose postcard sets are now available in the shop!
Well since Leda and Archiduchesse Elizabeth d’Autriche hasn’t bloomed yet the only two roses that smell are Grande Dame and Souvenir de la Malmaison but the strongest is Grande Dame with that old rose smell. It smell so good I was trying to make oil out if it with olive oil before my dog licked the oil I was working with… (so now I need to wait for another flush before I can start again..) SdlM’s fragrance is very light and delicate but GD is amazing 🙂 … I have my neighbors Abe Darby in the house in a vase and I am smelling it but those arent mine HEHE
Hee hee, silly puppy!
About Grande Dame, because I have been hearing a lot of praise about her, do you find she is resistant to disease? My Souvenir de la Malmaison still has not bloomed for me…sigh. Darby is at the top of the fragrant rose list in our garden! You need to get that rose, too. (Look at me being all bossy.) As always, thank you for sharing. I’m off to look up Archiduchesse Elizabeth d’Autriche. With a name like that, she’s got to be a beaut!
In my garden she gets almost all day sun except for a few hours in the morning and so far I have not had any problem with her unlike my KO and SdlM has blackspot. She is vase worth a few days at least for me, I think she lasted 5 days in a vase and big beautiful blooms. I don’t know how she is during/after winter because I have had her since around Mother’s Day.
http://s1254.photobucket.com/albums/hh619/jessbeyer0/?action=view¤t=IMAG1079.jpg
I have more photos but they are on my phone 🙂
Oh! She’s pretttyyyy.
And thank you for that info! Definitely going to keep that in mind.
Your rose is very beautiful. So nice when the fragrance is something special as well!! My most fragrant rose by far is Blanc Double de Coubert, bred by Cochet-Cochet. I have this rose planted next to my driveway – people comment on the scent all the time. It is fantastically easy to grow but the blooms do look messy if it rains (which it does a lot here on the West Coast!). My most fragrant modern rose is Frederic Mistral – also very disease resistant. Mine is own root and is a bit of a monster. My Mom has a grafted version of Frederic which is much more genteel. I have had the Grande Dame since the end of last summer. I must admit mine has not been too spectacular so far. I don’t seem to get those really full blooms I see in other people’s pictures, nor is the scent anything special. Anyway, perhaps enough rambling for tonight? Thanks for the rose discussion!
Loved reading your comment, Louise! I’m so grateful for your shares. I’ve read about Blanc Double de Coubert but have never seen it in person and it’s really hard to find a place that isn’t sold out of it. Your description has inspired me to redouble my efforts! Also, I’ve never heard of Frederic Mistral so I thank you for introducing me to him–what a stunner. I was just thinking how I “need” more Romantica roses so I think I will add it to my list. Good luck with your Grande Dame…maybe she just needs a little more time to get established? Thanks again for your input, I appreciate it!
Oooo Frederic Mistral is beautiful!
Oooh, you make me want to grow ‘Comte de Chambord’. And I want to try Grande Dame now, too. The main requirement for me when I plant a new rose is fragrance and that’s why I’ve planted so many David Austins. My most fragrant is perhaps Sharifa Asma. Love, love, love that fragrance. The plant is very hardy and disease resistant, too. I love Blanc Double de Coubert, but its fragrance is not as lovely (to me) as the Austins. Brother Cadfael and William Shakespeare 2000 are another couple of the super fragrant ones in my garden. Abraham Darby is fragrant, but I think, not quite as fragrant as those three.
It’s fun to join the discussion. Thanks for posing the question!
Hi Anne! Thank you for chiming in here, it’s lovely to have you! I agree with you, fragrance is so important to me when choosing a rose and why I keep coming back to Austin’s, too. Wonderful to hear about Sharifa Asma and Brother Cadfael. I don’t grow either, but now I want to! Both are such a pretty shade of pink. We have WS2000, but I find that it’s counterpart Mustead Wood is more fragrant and Abraham Darby is still at the top of my list of favorites although Jude the Obscure, which I’ll be posting shortly, is really impressing me this season and soo fragrant. Thanks again, Anne, it’s wonderful to be able to chat about roses with other gardeners!
Comte de Chambord is one of the most fragrant roses in my garden too. And, alas it does get blackspot but still so worth it. Another very fragrant is Roseraie De L Hay Rugosa–a great flush in the spring with sporatic bloom throughout the summer. And, lovely hips in the fall. If you don’t have that one, I think you would enjoy it. I also have 3 Grand Dame roses (mentioned above) and they ARE so wonderful. Bloom all summer and very fragrant. Beautiful deep pink and I know you love pink roses!! Love your blog!
Hi Teresa! Right back atcha…love your blog, too. 🙂
I really want to try Roseraie… but I need to first find room for her. Your photos of that rose (and G.D.) make me very wanty! If you haven’t tried ‘Jude the Obscure’ yet, I think you would really like that rose. It’s as fragrant as Comte… and more robust. Thank you for visiting!
The most fragrant rose in my garden is a burgundy climber called High Society. The David Austin
Graham Thomas and a pale pink one which may be Eiffel Tower also have a lovely scent.
Sounds wonderful, Robin! Thank you so much for your input! 🙂
it’s got to be Olde Romeo. Super fragrant.
That one really is a beauty!
but so hard to find. Everyone is looking.