On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 23:59:17 GMT, "Greta Kustermans"
wrote:

Hello, I was searching the www.everyrose.com website for high fragant
floribunda roses and there I found Gruss an Aachen as being exceptionally
fragant.
This is strange because in the "The encyclopedia of roses" (Random House
Australia Pty Ltd 1998) this rose only gets a low fragant quotation.
In my local nursery catalogue Gruss an Aachen gets no points for fragancy
and whats more they sell it as a shrub rose iso floribunda.
How can these differences (which I also found for some other roses) be
explained and who is right?


Fragrance is

1. Highly variable due to conditions such as temperature, humidity,
and time of day.

2. Highly subjective. Noses vary. Olfactory receptors must, too.

I think Don Juan has a recognizable, albeit "medium strength" rose
scent. Others say it merely smells more like a rose than a ham
sandwich.

I smell nothing at all on Europeana. Others say it has fragrance.

By the way, Europeana is the best red floribunda EVER.

Fragrant floribundas I have grown:

Sheila's Perfume--yellow bicolor, wow, not bloomiferous but who cares.
Great classic HT form, STRONG scent.

White Lightnin' [may be a grandiflora in the US, can't recall, grows
like a fl and has a strong lemony scent.]

Scentimental--look at it too hard and it drops its petals but what a
scent and each rose is a unique masterpiece. for, like, 3 minutes. :-)
I have three so I get so see blooms.

Angelface--a very fragrant, ruffly mauve rose with a neat white
stripe. I dislike this rose for some reason, but fragrance is not is.
The blooms on mine were sort of shallow, and overall the plant did not
behave well. Some have great luck with it.

Margaret Merrill, lovely blush white, not many petals, maybe 8-10,
sweet, great fragrance.

All That Jazz--Orange, 8 petals, very fragrant.

Pensioner's Voice--I love the name, too, though many do not.
Orange/peach and tall. VERY strong fragrance, lovely high-centered
form.

For some reason, the grandiflora class (supposed to be a cross between
a hybrid tea and a floridbunda, it blooms in sprays but has longer
stems than floribundas generally do, and you can pinch out side buds
and have a great huge central bloom if you like] has some really great
fragrant roses. Note that I am saying fragrant, not disease resistant,
etc. I live in Zone 7 Raleighk, NC. Hot and wet, then cold and wet. I
do spray.

Fragrant Grandifloras I have grown:

Gold Medal--lovely medium-light yellow with edges brushed with cerise.
Not a good high center, and fades to an ugly off-white on the bush but
great for cutting.

Lagerfeld--ghosty lavender, great form and fragrance, major swooning
diva of a rose, worth growing anyway.

The class sometimes called "shrub roses" has some good ones.

Distant Drums is round and shrubby and never out of bloom, strange
but pleasant myrrh fragrance. Ruffly, not high-centered.


Back to your question, the very best thing to do when choosing roses
is to see them in bloom in a local garden or garden shop before you
buy. That way your nose can tell you.