On not buying any roses

[hrj]

Yeh. Like that was going to happen.

Comments

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

Heee :-D

They're very pretty--are they fragrant, too?

[hrj.livejournal.com]

I don't buy any rose that I haven't stuck my nose into. One reason I stick mostly to old roses is that I see little point in non-fragrant ones. These are, on the left, "Hansa", a rugosa that fits my other rule-of-thumb requirement by dating back to 1905 (I aim for roses that are at least a hundred years old); and on the right, the Comte de Chambord, a Portland Damask dating to 1863.

Of all my roses, my favorite scent is Reine Victoria (Bourbon, 1872) which has a rich spicy scent that I'd love to have as a perfume. (It's very similar to a rose-scented product I got several decades ago from Avon and then never could find again.)

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

I don't buy any rose that I haven't stuck my nose into.

I wouldn't, either :-) but the house I grew up in had a bunch of climbing Peace roses (which smelled sweet), one wild-type (which didn't look very showy, but smelled wonderful), and one Seven Sisters (which looked really flashy, and had no smell whatsoever). So one never knows....

[dame-cordelia.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on smelly roses. The only roses I own that don't have a good strong scent were gifts.

There seems little point to a rose that doesn't have a smell. It makes me feel like I was gypped.