To talk a little bit about fragrance. I’m not an expert in describing fragrances, but I’ve been thinking about it lately.
I have a R. carolina x R. centifolia that I was describing to myself as an “oh my god” type of fragrance, and sure enough when I picked a blossom the first person to smell it said “oh my gosh.” Strong, with the undertone of sourness that gives the fragrance body.
The fragrance of Will Alderman is very similar, which I find interesting because the two roses seem to have very different backgrounds. I’ve made some crosses between the two just to see what happens.
The fragrance of Oso Easy Fragrant Spreader seems to come from the wichurana heritage. Sweet and powdery without any sourness, it is a fragrance that seems to float on the wind more easily. Ultimately it can be cloying in its sweetness, so I’d like to cross a rose with this fragrance with something that has more sour, citrus tones.
Double Delight might be the king of fragrance, and I’ve thought before that I loved it, but there are some hybrid tea undertones to the fragrance that almost add a plastic, artificial tone. I think I prefer my carolina/centifolia seedling’s fragrance.
Morden Sunrise had (always past tense for that dog, unfortunately) a lovely and distinct tangerine fragrance. Probably comes from the Hazeldean side, I was going to say, but I see on HMF that Sunsprite has a strong fragrance. I’ve never smelled Sunsprite…does it have those tangerine tones?
Musk roses or polyanthas (correct me if I’m lumping too much together) have what to me is a somewhat unpleasant lipsticky smell. I can see it adding some nice wafting element to another type of fragrance in breeding, but otherwise it leaves me uninspired.
R. woodsii has a lovely smooth, sweet smell. My patch of R. acicularis always seems to remind me of raspberries, and I’m not sure if it’s coming from the foliage or the flower.
One of my Blue for You x Commander Gillette seedlings ended up with a very strong and pleasing fragrance. I believe that BFY provided the sour, citrus notes while Commander provided the smooth and sweet species smell. To me, Blue for You’s fragrance on it’s own isn’t that pleasing…it’s like the citrus element without anything sweet to back it up. Unfortunately this seedling is quite unhealthy.
So, where do I turn to create either a healthy, reblooming, fairly hardy die-back rose or a non-suckering, fully hardy, once-blooming rose that has good health and a fragrance, as someone on this forum once said, to slay the gods?
It would be fun to hear any of your thoughts on issues related to fragrance.