Short, fat, overdressed and doused in perfume

I know a dozen people who meet that description, but I'm certain they won't agree to living in pots on my deck.

I would appreciate suggestions on roses that are round, compact -ish, densely and fully foliaged, with good repeat bloom and good fragrance. Vase life doesn't matter, because the flowers won't be picked. Plants will be more of a 'living bouquet'. Any colour, but yellow is really covered by the September arrival of Julia Child/Soul Mate.

Tentatively, I'm looking at Love Potion, Sight Saver or possibly venturing with some trepidation back into Austin-Land with Princess Alexandra of Kent. All opinions gratefully received.

Why not try a few carpet roses ?

Not quite the wreathed-in-perfume creatures I had in mind. Also, they're almost too basic. Hopscotch in a triathalon. No sport in 'em ;-)

If you want to try "Ruby Celebration" which is a prickly florabunda, which blooms continously,compact, but not much smell...good performer...

Hi all
A fantastic variety for this would be Belle du Seigneur it covers in beautiful apricot flowers with strong fragrance and if wanted can also be used as cut flower.

I will have to have a look at Belle du Seigneur , it sounds great

Have a look at 'Aotearoa' healthy, supposed to be vigorous but I can't grow it well, just doesn't like me.

One of the best roses I have grown in a pot is 'Delicious'. Don't know if it fits all your descriptions but look it up.

So glad you mentioned la belle Belle du Seigneur. I trialled her about six years ago, and liked her for about a year, then gave her away when we moved. She never produced more than a trace of perfume for me, and I didn't really bond with her, but she was a happy and healthy rose, for sure. You definitely should have a closer look at this one, Carole.

Aotearoa!!!! I have it! My scentimental favourite. This variety was the very first HT rose(s) I ever purchased online! I bought two when we lived in Seattle, back in 2000, where it was called "New Zealand". NZ set the benchmark for my taste in rosey scent forever, although the colour is pretty blah (corspeflesh, i think the rosarians have dubbed it). I still keep a pic of one of those long-ago NZs. Having probs creating a proper link, but maybe this will work: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

No love for Love Potion out there? Is it the low-rent name that keeps her out of your garden, or is she a dud with an excellent PR machine, or perhaps just an okay, nothing-to-write-home-about rose? Has very, very good reviews, also a few Oz fans. Guess they aren't members here, though.

A bit more about Aotearoa: Ozeboy, it's the Oz, not the boy, in this case, that may be the issue. Ao doesn't really love Australia, at least not NSW, or at least not where I've lived around the State. It's never had the vigor or the form for me here that it did in the Pacific Northwest. I think she needs to look at snowcapped mountains to be happy ;-))))

Love Potion is supposed to be healthy with a raspberry fragrance.
I've never grown it but Swanes had it in one of their catalogues some time ago. Fimbarr and his merry men go to a lot of trouble to find some of the best exhibition roses they can find.

Betsyw, It's a long time since I was a boy but Swanes seem to be able to grow Aotearoa well. There is a line of them along their front fence.
Don't know their secret but as you mention us normal folk need more snow.

We grow Aotearoa here as well....it has nice exhibition blooms and good stems

Betsyw , i have grown Belle De Seignor as well , and i agree it sounds like the rose you are after , tough , round , bushy and with flowers that are pretty but not beautiful and a nice fragrance , a bit of black spot . Lots of flowers but they didn't last all that long . All in all a good rose , but i just didn't love it and because i am stuck for room , out it came , but probably good for what you are after . I have Aoteroa , a nice rose , takes time i think to settle in though . Pope John Paul , is one of favourites , bushy , free flowering and perfumed , also the Childrens Rose .

Maree, as mentioned above I've tried Belle du Seigneur and pretty much agree with all you say. BS wasn't too much of a problem, but I just never bonded with this one. Some roses are like family you love forever, others are cocktail-party encounters that are amusing for a moment and then you move on. Belle falls in the latter category for me.

On bonding or no: A friend got PJPII last year (from Swane's, Finbarr please note.) It's a brilliant plant, a faultless specimen, just horse-healthy and a bloom machine. Irreprochable. Still, I don't love it. Something prissy about those reflexed blooms, and citrus isn't exciting to my nose.

The Children's Rose: Thank you for the push. I've always wanted to try this one, and now it goes on the list.

Betsyw , sorry getting my names mixed up here , isn't it funny but i know what you mean , you have to bond with a rose and love it . My family don't get that and think i'm crazy when i pull a rose out and try another , i'm on a quest to have only roses that i love in my garden , only trouble is , digging out the soil too . I have a few roses that are earmarked for the bin , just got to find the right rose to replace them .

Maree, I so identify with your plant-and-yank routine! I like to call it 'editing', but in my case it can be more like speed dating.

Sooo, I'm curious. What roses have you bonded with, and which ones have no 'chemistry' ?

betsyw , okay , will think on that one , and list them for you , i have planted and pulled out so many over the years . I live in Melbourne , don't know if that makes a difference to the roses , state to state .

betsyw, Aotearoa is normally a great choice, we have great success in the Sydney garden. very reliable flower and perfume. SightSaver is also very good and quite compact, a common trait of Gareth Fryer's varieties. I think Love Potion is an unreliable choice, not as vigorous as i would like. The new Sweet Intoxication has medals and great perfume, it evaluated very well in a number of different areas including Sydney. My Hero is super, but does get a little more mildew than some others. PJPII is probably my pick for performance and petal count, the citrus in the perfume may well be the only negative. if only Good Samaritan or Daybreaker had perfume! my advice to maintain compactness is less water, thick mulch (lucerne), continuous light feeding and long pruning.

Can't tell you how much I value your advice here, Finbarr. I had wondered why Love Potion was off Swane's list this year (as far as I can see).

Okay, on your recommendation, then, I'll put Sweet Intoxication in bold (set in stone) on the list, x2. I really wanted to try this one, for the clove fragrance, and I like the colour, so you've locked it in. Will order this pair from Swane's.

Friendly advice: Whoever wrote the rose porn for SI has just got to cut down on the caffeine:"Seductive fountains of rich magenta blooms permeate a garden with an alluring clove fragrance - an aroma powerful enough to make you feel light headed. Sparkling amethyst flower clusters beguile even the most precocious rose lover with colour and fragrance, month after month. Sweet Intoxication is the ultimate garden vixen, spellbinding the senses and captivating the soul."

SightSaver is charming and she's on the list, just not set in stone. I dither here: that little-girl's bedroom pink might get on my nerves.

As you say, if only Daybreaker had perfume, it would be one of my top picks. Lovelovelove those colours. The perfume thing is a deal breaker for Daybreaker, though.

Keep those cards and letters coming in, Finbarr. The season for shipping is only starting, and you might be a one-man consumer-led recovery for rosedom ;-))))

my pleasure to help. let's hope i'm right?!

Hope so, too. I await the advertised spellbinding of my senses and the captivation of my soul.

No pressure, Finbarr. I'll make sure to fill in the Swanes online customer instructions box with "Ultimate garden vixen purchased on the personal recommendation of the Managing Director Mr Finbarr O'Leary"

a refreshing sense of humour. thanks.

Finbarr , what do you personally think of City of Newcastle , its one i would like to try , perfume is my top priority , followed my disease resistance . I prefer not to spray , not even organic sprays if i absolutely don't have too , cause i love my good bugs in the garden . Thanks

betsyw , i guess in my mind i have grouped roses into three categories . 1.. Non perfumed roses , i just don't bond with them . 2..Perfumed flowers but prone to disease , love the flowers , but bush is black spot prone and exfoliates even with spraying , soo annoying , so don't really bond with them either. 3.. Perfumed flowers and bush that has good black spot resistance and when it does get black spot doesn't completely exfoliate . I have planted and pulled out so many roses , and have found only a handfull that i love , all the others i like and dislike . I love .. Violina , Olde Fragrance , Aoteroa , Jubilee Celebration , Pope John Paul , Henri Matisse ,Mmme Isacc Perierre , Childrens Rose , that i can think of . The absolute duds , so many , i just wish breeders would come up with roses that are perfumed and disease resistant and good for picking , so many people get sick of roses because of the black spot and mildew.. How about you betsyw , your favourites ?

Maree, we are definitely on the same page. No fragrance, no interest. I've learned to decode the catalogue/swing tag copy, too: "delicate perfume" and 'soft pleasing scent' mean "slight". I don't even trust the term "moderate fragrance" anymore. That line sounds more hopeful than confident, you know? Spicy or sweet , vanilla, honeysuckle or clove, but not too citrusy for me, thanks

More selection criteria blather: Colour counts, too. Whatever their virtues, I tire of baby and orchid pink roses quickly - hence the otherwise near-perfect Violina was gifted out of the garden. Grey-granny mauves don't work for me, either, and the also otherwise excellent Charles de Gaulle got the boot after two years of great production and scent. (Maybe I shoulda spray-painted that one).

Form: I dislike tightly scrunched star-pointy, reflexed petals, am partial to scallops, fluting and ruffles. Everything else fine by me.

I'm a bit less concerned about armour-plated BS resistance than I used to be, even though I don't spray. All my modern roses are grown specifically for the vase; only the heritage noisettes get landscape duty. As long as the rose bounces back relatively quickly, and photosynthesis doesn't stall out, I'm not unduly fussed, and nobody sees the sorry plants but me. The Valencias, for example, have a spectacular wardrobe malfunction every autumn. Zot! We're not talking a broken spaghetti strap here. The whole lot of leaves come off. Then the Vals instantly sprout new leaf sets all over the cane.

This post is too long by miles. Okay, Moment of Decision. From a modest selection of around 40 HT and floribunda varieties I have known and grown, here's the best and worst of the garden parties past and present :
A-listers: Fragrant Cloud, Valencia, Parole, Jardins de Bagatelle, Secret, Ginger Hill. Sweet Chariot, Aotearoa, Firefighter.
B-Listers: Neptune (beautiful flower, too citrus-y scent), PJPII (magnificent, but bloom form is prissy and scent too citrus), Just Joey (the flowers are to die for - all 12 of 'em a year), Adolf Horstmann (see Just Joey, but subtract eight).
Call the bouncers: Jude the Obscure, Double Delight. The latter ticked so many boxes in theory, but it turned out to be a Clown Alley look-alike doused in baby talc .

Sorry for exceeding bandwidth and patience. The End.