I have never owned a miniature rose, any time I have seen them in the UK, I always give the flower a sniff and as of yet… I have never smelt anything significant. Anyone got anything I can have a look at?
There actually have been (and are) well-scented minis. FINDING them where you are is the issue. Listing those we’ve had available in the US won’t do you any good as many of them aren’t even available here now and likely were never available in the UK. Your best bet would be to shop the list of available minis in the UK or EU available to you and see which are scented. If you have a Premium membership to Help Me Find-Roses, you can use the Advanced Search using “miniature” (and any other classes such as Micro Miniature, Climbing Miniature, etc.) and “mild to strong, strong” etc scent to bring up a list of entries 52 pages long from the database. Of course the actual number of varieties is smaller as the database lists every synonym and code/seedling number for each variety as a separate entry. But, yes, there ARE very fragrant minis. A friend used to walk his garden with a pot of Ralph Moore’s Chick a Dee under his nose. He said that way, every rose in his garden had scent. The database lists it as “mild”, but to my nose, it’s sweet and lasting. Scentsational, 'Scentsational ™' Rose with its strong lilac scent; Overnight Scentsation 'Overnight Scentsation ™' Rose, Red Scentsation 'Red Scentsation ™' Rose; Seattle Scentsation 'Seattle Scentsation ™' Rose all from Harm Saville were highly scented. What minis are available in the UK which might have scent?
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Wow thank you very much, I wonder why miniatures are such a small market in the UK, considering the cost of land and the average garden size you would think we would have a better range. The first rose you linked is available… I wonder if it sets hips…
You’re welcome! Scentsational produced two offspring, both using its pollen on an unnamed seedling. So, obtain it and put its pollen on other roses. All you need is one mini parent to create minis. This is the parentage tree for Scentsational. Little Darling is a floribunda. Yellow Magic was created by putting mini pollen on a probable fertile triploid Brownell Sub Zero large flowered climber. Golden Glow also produced Golden Angel, a fertile triploid mini. Of course, Rise’n Shine is mini and it was crossed with Laguna, a Hybrid Tea, to produce Lavender Jade, a mini. Hybrid Tea pollen was put on that mini to produce Scentsational. Reported results prove its pollen is fertile, so all you need is a seed fertile mate to use it to potentially produce scented minis. By all means, try pollinating its flowers with other roses. It MAY produce fertile seed. The lack of reported seed offspring only means that IF it was tried, the results weren’t reported. They may not have been what the user was looking for or perhaps it was simply the habit of the user to use its pollen.
The issue of minis being such a small market in the UK is likely due to the fact that Poulsen, Kordes, Tantau and Meilland pretty much have a lock on producing potted flowering minis for grocery store and florist sales. And, those potted flowering plants are pretty much viewed as disposable as cut flowers and all the other flowering, potted “gift plants”. Buy them in color, throw them away once the flowers fade. That was something Ralph Moore complained bitterly about as he witnessed its birth. Instead of buying Rise’n Shine as a yellow mini by name, those producers sold a dozen different yellow minis (each) under their trade names of “Yellow Mini Sunblaze”, “Yellow Mini-Poul Hit”, etc. If British breeders are going to put that kind of money and effort into creating a smaller rose, it’s going to be something for landscape, potentially municipal landscaping use where they can sell large quantities of plants reliably.
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Thank you for all the information, I love fragrant roses but have never liked minis. However I could potentially keep this mini inside to provide fragrance for my home. I am also excited to play with it’s pollen and as a mother. I am truly thankful for the information you have given me.
I purchased some mini pot roses from a green grocer here in Staffordshire that were reasonably scented but had no means of identifying the variety. They had been imported from Holland. Two weeks later similar looking mini roses in the same packaging had no scent at all.
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Lens has some fragrant minis on their website. They ship to the UK during bareroot season.
They have Popcorn and Dresden Doll, as well as a few bred by Lens, of which Pink Delight, Pascaline and Indian Silk seem to be the most fragrant. Pink Delight is seed fertile based on HMF info, no recorded descendants for the other two.
You’re welcome, James. That is a sample of the benefits of a $24 a year Premium membership to Help Me Find-Roses. https://helpmefind.com/rose/index.php You are aware that roses, even mini roses, aren’t “house plants”? It requires a LOT of effort and recreating the universe to successfully raise them indoors.
I believe you, Russ. What you likely experienced was the infamous selling of a dozen different minis of similar coloring as the same product. The retailer simply orders the quantity of whatever color desired and the selling supplies whichever varieties of that color is in flower. Great for product availability and profits but terrible for being able to obtain THE rose desired. Even if you could discover a name, it wouldn’t be for THAT scented rose, but for whatever the series name is for all of the varieties supplied under that name.
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I guess it’s obvious they aren’t house plants however miniatures where I am from are sold almost exclusively inside. Even at garden centres… Sometimes next to bunches of flowers. I guess due to lack of knowledge about most plants in the UK and the novelty of the miniature roses they are basically sold as a slightly longer lasting bunch of flowers.I have always not liked the look of them for that reason, until tonight when I realised a rose cuttings I took last year (which is flowering and I love) is technically a miniature. On helpmefind it says it’s a climbing miniature that can get up to 10 feet, the one I took it from is in full shade and is going to attic height on the building supporting it. So my idea of what’s miniature is a bit confused me thinks 
My mistake it says 6-7 feet
I am all ready planning to import 6 roses from lens as it is 
“Miniature” refers to the size of the flower. You can have a 10’ “miniature”. The size approximation given for the plant is often not what you will experience. If something either freezes, eats or prunes them to be smaller, they will likely be smaller. If they are planted where nothing limits them, they can often achieve enormous proportions. It isn’t uncommon for minis to become fairly substantial shrubs where they are allowed to do what they want.
No matter how large or small the plant, they require stronger light; moister, cooler air than they usually receive indoors and better air circulation to prevent disease and pest issues and to keep them alive. Spider mites and aphids are chronic issues indoors. They come in on you, pets, can move through window screens from outdoor plants to plants near the windows. Yes, they are now sold as disposable, nearly “cut flower” products, just like the potted hydrangeas, azaleas, lilies, mums, etc.
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Well this is why I am an absolute novice, yet again I have fallen into another rose rabbit hole
“They come in on you, pets, can move through window screens from outdoor plants to plants near the windows”
This sounds like a horror movie.
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Welcome to the society! LOL! We’ve all been there and most of us are still there in many subjects! Much of it you have to experience to find out. They are still worthy of your attention. Breeding with minis can open many doors for you. The Hulthemias were brought into modern roses using minis. Mosses, striped flowers, crested sepals were all brought into modern roses and homogenized into transmissible traits using minis. You can engineer in dwarf, bushy, repeat-flowering habits from species by using minis from the beginning. Ralph Moore used to frequently say minis provided the “bridge” to bring in many previously un obtained traits.
Yes, bugs moving on you does seem like a horror movie, but it’s frequently the case. Fuchsia Mites often move from infected to uninfected plants by hitching rides on the beaks of hummingbirds. All it requires is you brushing against infested foliage so the pests can rub off on your clothing for you to bring them indoors with you. You can spread fungal diseases and pests from one garden to another on your clothes. Weeds spread via air blown seeds as well as on your feet, the lawn guy’s lawn mower and other equipment, even on the feet and fur of animals moving from one place to your yard. Fun stuff. Chilli Thrips are now an issue in the hotter counties to the south of where I am. They are nasty and impossible to eradicate. I won’t bring material in from those areas and request anyone visiting from those areas not to wear clothing here they have worn in gardens there and not laundered in the interim.
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Kim, you’ve got me needing Scentsational!
Fragrant, lavender, double, mini, thornless, “decorative hips,” and for some reason listed as hardy to Zone 4b???
BTW, a significant number of my roses descend from Blue for You and Art Noveau which I got from you. (I’ve lost them both, but have their seedlings.)
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Hey, Joe! I honestly don’t know how much stock I’d place in that Zone 4b rating. I’m glad Blue for You and Art Nouveau proved useful for you! They’re good roses.
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