As beautiful as roses are, the most fragrant roses have stronger scents than others. These rose varieties will fill your garden with colorful blooms and fabulous floral aromas. Plant them by your patio, paths, or wherever you can enjoy them often.
Honey Perfume
The 2004 All-American Rose Selection winner 'Honey Perfume' is a floribunda rose that bears clusters of beautiful 4-inch-wide, apricot-yellow blooms. One of the most fragrant roses, its petals release a strong, spicy scent similar to a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. With beautiful blooms and dense foliage that offers good resistance to powdery mildew and rose rust, this perpetual bloomer is an all-around crowd-pleaser.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained, fertile soil
Size: To 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide
Zones: 5-9
Fragrant Plum
Noteworthy for its lavender petals that blush to a smoky purple color at its edges, 'Fragrant Plum' is a type of grandiflora rose with double, 4-inch blooms. Its sweet scent (rich and plum-like) and large flowers make it especially wonderful for adding to cut flower arrangements.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide
Zones: 5-9
Radiant Perfume
This grandiflora rose's name, 'Radiant Perfume,' says it all. The big, golden-yellow blooms have a wonderfully intense citrus scent. Thanks to their long stems, the flowers are perfect for cutting and adding sunshine indoors.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and wide
Zones: 5-9
Heritage
An outstanding English rose, 'Heritage,' bears petal-filled soft-pink blooms that smell of sweet lemons. Many gardeners appreciate that it has fewer (at least compared to most roses) thorns on its canes and good disease resistance. This delicate cup-shaped beauty performs well in partial shade, and this most fragrant rose is a great cut flower.
Light: Best in full sun, can tolerate part sun
Water: Plant in rich, well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide
Zones: 5-9
Louise Odier
Introduced in 1851, the 'Louise Odier' bourbon rose is a vigorous heritage garden rose that remains popular for its strength as a cut flower. Its constant supply of bright pink summertime blooms and intense sweet fragrance makes it a favorite of long-time gardeners.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide
Zones: 5-9
Madame Plantier
Bred in 1835, 'Madame Plantier' alba rose has withstood the test of time. One look (and sniff) at it, and you'll see why: The white flowers are packed with petals and a sweet fragrance. This rose can get huge with vertical growth like a climbing rose. Prune this rose back regularly to encourage bushy growth and keep the growth in bounds.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 8-12 feet tall and 6 feet wide
Zones: 4-9
Fragrant Cloud
Voted into the Rose Hall of Fame by the World Federation of Rose Societies, 'Fragrant Cloud' rose offers a captivating fragrance in its big coral-red blooms. This hybrid tea rose combines notes of citrus, spice, fruit, and rosy damask to create a bouquet similar to pumpkin pie's scent. Plant this prolific variety with blossoms measuring up to 5 inches wide in a sunny, well-drained location.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and wide
Zones: 5-9
Buy It: Fragrant Cloud Hybrid Tea Rose ($26, Edmunds' Roses)
Autumn Damask
The old-fashioned, repeat-blooming rose, 'Autumn Damask', has been grown since the 1500s. Because it's one of the most fragrant roses with an intense aroma and beautiful pink flowers, it's still popular today. Sometimes sold as the four seasons rose, it is a favorite of the perfume industry. As the oldest European rose to reliably repeat its blooms, it flowers abundantly in spring and has scattered blossoms through the summer and fall.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and wide
Zones: 5-9
Buy It: 'Autumn Damask' Rose ($22, High Country Roses)
Double Delight
One of the most distinctive hybrid tea roses, 'Double Delight' produces creamy white flowers with rich, cherry-red edges that deepen as the flower ages. This fragrant beauty is an All-America Rose Selections winner, one of the highest honors a rose can receive in the United States.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and wide
Zones: 3-9
Gertrude Jekyll
Combining pink blooms with a rich, antique rose fragrance, 'Gertrude Jekyll' is an easy-to-grow stunner that offers great disease resistance. This English rose can be maintained as a tall shrub or encouraged to climb to 10 feet.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 10 feet tall and 4 feet wide
Zones: 5-9
Just Joey
You can't beat the 'Just Joey' hybrid tea rose's rich, warm color. It's a beautiful blend of pale apricot and glowing orange. While 'Just Joey' appeals to the eye, it's the way this most fragrant rose appeals to your nose that makes it a garden favorite. Its large ruffled 5-inch flowers steeped with fruity scents continually bloom on a bushy plant with deep-green foliage. Because of its shorter nature, 'Just Joey' makes for an excellent container rose on your porch or patio.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 4 feet tall and wide
Zones: 5-9
Madame Alfred Carriere
Another old-rose classic, 'Madame Alfred Carriere' was created in 1879 and features pink-blushed white flowers with a strong spicy-sweet scent. It bears a continuous supply of blossoms and is perfect for covering a wall or pergola (especially because it has fewer thorns than most roses). This climbing rose is extremely hardy and blooms almost constantly throughout the warmer months.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 16 feet tall and 9 feet wide
Zones: 6-9
Madame Isaac Pereire
Considered one of the most fragrant roses in history, 'Madame Isaac Pereire' produces petal-filled, deep raspberry-rose flowers in spring and again in summer. As this shade-tolerant shrub grows, the petals of the cup-shaped flowers eventually turn back at the edges. This bourbon rose forms a large, vigorous shrub with thick, deep green foliage.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide
Zones: 6-9
Mister Lincoln
An award-winning hybrid tea rose created in 1965, 'Mister Lincoln' rose is still a top choice for gardens today. It features rich, velvety-red petals packed with a strong fragrance. Some rose experts say 'Mister Lincoln' set the standard for red roses.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide
Zones: 5-9
New Dawn
Climbing roses can be just as fragrant as their bushy cousins, a fact proven by gorgeous 'New Dawn.' It features big, soft-pink flowers throughout the summer and a cascading habit. Be sure to give 'New Dawn' plenty of room to climb.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide
Zones: 5-9
Roseraie de l'Hay
One of the hardiest and most fragrant roses, 'Roseraie de l'Hay' bears magenta-purple blooms filled with a very strong, sweet fragrance. This tough rugosa rose has a long bloom season and excellent disease resistance, too. This plant's highly textured foliage will produce a pleasing shape by following a few simple rules on trimming roses.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and wide
Zones: 3-9
America
This award-winning climbing rose adds interest to pergolas, walls, and other outdoor structures. 'America' features strongly scented coral-pink flowers that bloom all summer long. It's disease resistant, so you can count on it to look good at the end of the season and serve as a focal point of color and scent.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 16 feet tall and 6 feet wide
Zones: 6-9