The Most Fragrant Roses for Your Garden

Your instincts are right if 'America' climbing rose reminds you of 'Fragrant Cloud'; this selection is one of America's parents. Like its offspring, it's an award winner that offers a captivating fragrance in its big coral-red blooms. 'Fragrant Cloud', however, is a vigorous hybrid tea with a lot of flower power.

Size: To 5 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-9

Noteworthy for its color (lavender blushing to smoky purple at the edges) and its sweet scent (rich and plum-like), 'Fragrant Plum' is a hybrid tea that bears almost perfectly shaped flowers that look stunning in a vase.

Size: To 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Zones: 5-9

Another outstanding English rose, Heritage bears petal-filled soft-pink blooms that smell of sweet lemons. Many gardeners appreciate that it has fewer (at least than most roses) thorns on its canes and good disease resistance.

Size: To 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Zones: 5-9

This award-winning floribunda rose bears beautiful 4-inch-wide, strongly fragrant, apricot-yellow blooms that appear in clusters. It's compact, too, and offers good resistance to powdery mildew and rose rust.

Size: To 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide

Zones: 5-9

Bred in 1851, this vigorous old garden rose remains popular for its strength as a cut flower, use in the landscape (it makes a stunning hedge!), constant supply of summertime blooms, and intense sweet fragrance.

Size: To 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Zones: 5-9

Bred in 1835, this rose has withstood the test of time. One look (and sniff) at it and you'll see why -- the pure-white flowers are packed with petals and a sweet fragrance.

Size: To 6 feet tall and wide

Zones: 4-9

This old-fashioned, repeat-blooming rose has been grown since the 1500s -- and its combination of beautiful pink flowers and intense fragrance keeps it popular today. Sometimes sold as the Four Seasons rose, it is a favorite of the perfume industry.

Size: To 5 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-9

One of the most distinctive hybrid tea roses, 'Double Delight' bears creamy white flowers with rich, cherry-red edges that deepen as the flower ages, as well as a knock-your-socks-off fragrance. It's one of the most dramatic and dependable roses in the garden.

Size: To 5 feet tall and wide

Zones: 3-9

Most English roses are wonderfully fragrant, so it's no surprise David Austin's 'Gertrude Jekyll' made the list. This easy-growing stunner offers great disease resistance and wonderful medium-pink flowers on a vigorous plant.

Size: To 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Zones: 5-9

You can't beat this hybrid tea rose's rich, warm color -- it's a beautiful blend of rich apricot and glowing orange. While 'Just Joey' appeals to the eye, it's really the way the rose appeals to your nose that makes it a garden favorite.

Size: To 4 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-9

Another old-rose classic, this climbing rose was born in 1879 and features pink-blushed white flowers with a strong spicy-sweet scent. It bears a continuous supply of blooms and is perfect for clothing a wall or pergola (especially since it bears fewer thorns than most roses).

Size: To 16 feet tall and 9 feet wide

Zones: 6-9

Considered one of the most fragrant roses in history, 'Madame Isaac Pereire' bears petal-filled, deep raspberry-rose flowers in spring and again in summer.

Size: To 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide

Zones: 6-9

An award-winning rose born in 1965 that's just as popular today, it features rich, velvety-red roses packed with a strong fragrance. Some rose experts say 'Mister Lincoln' set the standard for red roses.

Size: To 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Zones: 5-9

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. Be sure to give 'New Dawn' plenty of room to climb!

Size: To 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide

Zones: 5-9

This grandiflora rose's name says it all! The big, golden-yellow blooms bear a wonderfully intense citrus scent. Thanks to their long stems, the flowers are perfect for cutting and adding sunshine indoors.

Size: To 5 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-9

Among the hardiest of all roses, this rugosa-type shrub bears magenta-purple blooms filled with a very strong, sweet fragrance. It's long blooming and wonderfully disease resistant, too.

Size: To 5 feet tall and wide

Zones: 3-9

Add interest to pergolas, walls, and other structures with this award-winning climbing rose. 'America' features strongly scented coral-pink blooms all summer long. It is disease resistant, so you can count on it to look good at the end of the season.

Size: To 16 feet tall and 6 feet wide

Zones: 6-9