Is there any fragrance more legendary than the scent of the rose?
Its delicious, sweet perfume is the highlight of the summer garden. The following 10 varieties are among the very best for scent:
1) ‘Louise Odier’ – one for romantics, this intensely scented pink Bourbon rose repeat-flowers and resists disease well. H 5ft (1.5m) S 4ft (1.2m).
2) ‘Madame Isaac Pereire’ – a wonderful Bourbon rose, which produces very large fragrant red-pink blooms. H 5ft (1.5m) x S 4ft (1.2m).
Supplier: www.classicroses.co.uk
3) ‘De Resht’ – this Portland Damask has crimson-pink pompon flowers which are very fragrant.
H 3ft (90cm) x S 2ft (60cm).
Supplier: www.davidaustinroses.co.uk
4) ‘Professeur Emile Perrot’ (syn. ‘Kazanlik’) – an ancient Damask rose grown for the perfume industry. Wonderfully shabby pink flowers that exude a heart-stopping lemon scent. H 6ft (1.8m) x S 4ft (1.2m). Supplier: www.classicroses.co.uk
5) ‘Jude the Obscure’ – an amber-yellow David Austin English Rose that smells of guava fruit and sweet wine. H 4ft (1.2m) x S 4ft (1.2m). Supplier: www.davidaustinroses.co.uk
6) ‘Quatre Saisons’ – one of the oldest roses in the world, the Autumn Damask produces ruffled pink flowers for weeks. H 4ft (1.2m) x S 3ft (90cm). Supplier: www.davidaustinroses.co.uk
7) ‘Great Maiden’s Blush’ – an Alba rose that has sweetly scented blush pink flowers in summer and bluish foliage. H 6ft (1.8m) x S 5ft (1.5m). Supplier: www.rvroger.co.uk
8) ‘Sir Frederick Ashton’ – an ivory-white shrub rose that flowers all summer. It is the offspring of the beautiful ‘Anna Pavlova’ rose. H 4ft (1.2m) x S 3ft (90cm). Supplier: www.classicroses.co.uk
9) ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ – this award-winning David Austin English Rose has pink rosette flowers that are deliciously scented. H 5ft (1.5m) x S 39in (1m). Supplier: www.apuldramroses.co.uk
10) ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’ –a gorgeous climbing rose that has beautifully scented pink-white flowers, produced in succession all summer. H and S 10ft (3m). Supplier: www.crocus.co.uk
ROSE GARDENS TO VISIT
The best places to see (and sniff!) roses…
Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire – 01794 340757, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mottisfont
Sissinghurst Castle, Kent – 01580 710700, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst-castle
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