saki writes:

I've learned how many different rose scents there are, from paint-like to
citrus to damask-rose to cinnamon...and beyond. Sometimes they smell like
other flowers (sweet pea or mignonette).


Not only are there many rose scent, but they smell different to each person.
Bride's Dream smells like something gone sour to me. DH loves it. Double
Delight is so strong, it stinks, again DH loves it. Souvenir de la Malmaison
and Sombreuil smell like roses should to me. Duchesse de Brabant, Monsieur
Tillier, and White Maman Cochet are scentless to my nose, others clain they
are very fragrant.

.. SGMC doesn't smell like cloves to
me but there's an element of a perfume I'm still trying to identify. I've
only had one blossom so far because mine came bare-root and is just
starting up.

Did you smell the stamens with out the petals? That's where I got the
fragrance and it was definitly clove. The open blooms did not smell at all.
That may be due to their being closed in a box for several days. Today I get
some scent, but not strong and nothing I can identify.

Amazing that Ashdown sent a container plant with so many flower buds!


I thought so too. But this is a BIG rose! Much larger than I expected, even
in a 3 gallon pot. You had only one bloom, or one cluster of blooms? All of
mine are in clusters, from 9-15 blooms/buds per group.


You're right about this one. I got Darlow from The Uncommon Rose in October
of last year in a 4" pot and moved it up to 1-gallon right away. In
February it was ready for a five-gallon container. Just last weekend I
noticed that it had filled that one up and moved it to a ten-gallon
container. And it's throwing canes like nobody's business. Quite something!


So I may get it in the ground sooner than I expected. That's good news. I
have an empty trellis I want to fill. I don't plan to grow it as a true
climber, but rather tie some of the first longer canes to the trellis and let
the rest of it grow it's own way. At least that's my plan, anyone know why it
won't work? I would like to do the same thing the SGMC, but I don't have a
trellis in place for it yet.

Julie