Now’s the perfect time to plant a rose – choose one with a SCENT YOU ADORE
CLOVES
Meet ‘Roseraie de l’Hay’, a fantastic shrub rose that boasts vibrant bright green leaves, a spicy scent and gorgeous double magenta blooms that will grace your garden all summer long. It’s happy in a container or a flowerbed, and as autumn arrives it treats you to huge scarlet hips that birds and small mammals adore. Height & Spread 90-120cm. £14.75/1 bareroot eastcroftroses.co.uk
ANISEED
With a sweet aroma rather like liquorice, ‘Queen of Sweden’ is part of the myrrh scent family. It’s a bushy upright shrub with exquisite upward-facing blooms that start off apricot-pink and change to soft pink over time. The long-stemmed flowers are superb for cutting, too. Height 1.25m Spread 90cm. £22.50/ bareroot davidaustinroses.co.uk
WHAT’S YOUR FAVE FRAGRANCE?
We get drawn in by the luscious tones and low-maintenance charm of roses, but let’s not overlook the magic of their scent when they bloom. There are five main scent groups, each offering a variety of delightful options. Old Rose is the classic heady scent. Tea smells like fresh tea leaves. Myrrh is reminiscent of sweet anise as its name comes from the Latin for the herb sweet cicely, Myrrhis odorata. The Fruity group has everything from apricot to blackcurrant. And Musk is often described as the natural smell of your skin, but better! This scent actually emanates from the stems rather than the flowers and includes spices like nutmeg along with earthy tobacco.
HONEY
The gorgeous perfume of ‘Sweet Honey’ is most potent on warm sunny days. It’s an award-winning variety, not just for its scent but the incredible blooms in apricot shades that last from June to October. Plant it in a large container on the patio and breathe in its beauty! Height 90cm Spread 75cm. £9.99/2-year-old bush jparkers.co.uk
Old rose
Want to please passers-by with a cloud of quintessential rose fragrance? Plant ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ in your front garden, a medium shrub English rose with large rosette-shaped blooms in a bright Barbiecore pink. Height 1.10m Spread 90cm. £22.50/ bareroot, davidaustinroses.co.uk.
Fresh apple
Grow the pretty pink rambler sweet briar rose up a trellis or over an arch or pergola and enjoy its apple-like fragrance, which becomes even stronger after rain. It’s tolerant of poor soil and a bit of shade, b
