5 fragrant rose varieties for planting around the house

Pompoms of petals that fold tenderly back, velvet red blooms breathing apricot and peach, vanilla-and-strawberry stripes: fragrant roses earn their place by the nose as much as by the eye. Give them a spot you walk past daily and enough sun, and they will scent the house from late spring to the first frosts.

Pleasant-smelling roses release fruity and comforting odors. Discover our selection of very fragrant roses for an outdoor set-up that pleases the nose as much as it does the eyes!

→ Also: Roses for arbors… and arbors for roses!

Five fragrant roses compared at a glance

All five of these roses are chosen for scent, but they differ in habit, in how long they flower and in the kind of perfume they give off. Use the table to match one to the wall, bed or pergola you have in mind.

Read the table by the space you have to fill first, then by the scent you would like to walk past.

The romantic one: a fragrant heirloom rose

Heirloom rose is almost always associated to David Austin! There are many fragrant ancient rose varieties, and the one we’d like to share about today is the Queen of Denmark®. Its powerful fragrance is reminiscent of scents of old. This flower is the one that is most readily connected to the smell of roses whenever one has to describe it.

Might as well go for romance if you’re to indulge into an English rose breeder’s creation. This variety begets generous pompoms of petals that tenderly fold back.

Upon noticing this supremely elegant bloom, instinct kicks in: you can’t help but draw your nose in to get a delicious whiff of its perfume! Stems are very thorny, and leafage is gray-green in color. It’s more on the bushy side, so it will do great as a standalone, in a flower bed, and as a building block of a flowered hedge.

• Although the flower looks similar to that of the Pierre de Ronsard rose variety, they’re actually very different. The Pierre de Ronsard is a great climber, but flowers aren’t as fragrant.

The elegant one: an odor-filled red rose

Ah, red roses… they symbolize absolute love! This is even more true when the smell brings it all to a whole new level. For us, the Meilland Richardier creation “Edith Piaf” is the perfect icon to celebrate. With refined flowers with a tight center, this variety unleashes apricot and peach-like fruity scents. The velvet petals are an intense red, the center of which gradually increases in luminosity. The first blooming in early summer is extremely abundant, and gives way to a more diffuse but constant replenishment during the entire Summer season.

In Fall, a second massive wave of flowers again covers the shrub.

There are three possible bearings for this variety: bushy, climbing, or pruned as a tree rose.

Depending on which you choose, you can thus grow this wonder in a flower bed, as a standalone, along a pergola or fence… whichever way you welcome it, remember to collect a few flowers for a fragrant home bouquet!

Audacity: the bicolor climbing rose

Not only will this one master the volumes of any pergola, arbor or terrace, the “Vanille Fraise”® sports two-colored flowers! It bears petals that are at times vanilla yellow, at other times strawberry pink. Some petals even show stripes of both, which makes them very beautiful. The picture of a delicious strawberry-vanilla sherbert comes to mind.

An advantage of this literal eye candy is that “abundant blooming” doesn’t even seem enough to qualify it: is is positively covered in flowers!

Double flowers, somewhat opened, colonize its stems from early summer to late autumn. The scent is strong, and, as its name evokes, pretty fruity. Perfect for sun and part sun, this fragrant rose tree reaches heights of 8 feet (2.5m), which makes it suitable for almost any trellis. Use it along a lattice, fence, atop an old barrel, a pergola…

The modern one: peppy and powerful

The Parfum de Grasse® rose stakes its claim right from the start. The French town of Grasse is indeed world-famous for its perfume industry and museums – the olfactory capital of the world, in short!

The generous scents this background calls to mind are definitely delivered by this rose as you bring it to your nose.

A very disease-resistant rose, this shrub will offer flowers that have a dense, fruity and balanced scent.

Its color complements its perfume perfectly, too! Each flower seems to smolder like an ember with rose-orange petals that have darker orange undertones. Leafage starts out purple-red and turns to bright green in time. Never-ending blooms from late spring all the way to the first frosts of the season.

The delicate one: simple and luminous blooming

Large, simple flowers are what make the Fighting Temeraire® stand out from other more traditional roses. Each flower doles out 10 apricot-colored petals, with a golden yellow center. Though large and wide open, these still retain an impressive ornamental power!

Trained as a bush rose tree, this sprawling rose tree with innumerable shoots can reach 4 to 5 feet tall (1.5 meters). Since flowers abound on it, it quickly becomes a beacon of light in flower or shrub beds.

Almost as wide as it is tall, with a diameter of about 4 feet (1.25m), this is an ideal choice as a backdrop to other flowers for a continuously flowering space. Its scent is delicate and refined, and you’d wonder whether you’re awake or dreaming as the fruity citrus scents sift by.

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