I’ve been working on my list of rose scents for a few days, and hope to have it posted by Saturday. While I might not like every one I’ve ever tried, rose fragrances are a good bet for me, and I’m always on the lookout for new ones, or ones that are just new to me.
(In other news, we’re having Tractor Problems. Remember when the John Deere 4040 caught on fire back in January? It’s still sitting in the field. There’s been so much snow and/or soggy ground that nobody could even get to it and tow it out to be fixed or scrapped, depending on what the nice guys down at Wimmer’s say when they get a look at it. The 4230 lost a wheel last week, and now the 4240 is leaking copious amounts of hydraulic fluid. The 4440 is fine – but not equipped with a front-end loader, so it can’t be used to feed hay to cows. )
I just want to post more pictures of roses – these are from vintagegardens.com. (Wonder if they ship to Virginia?) Top image is Pierre Notting and bottom one is Clothilde Soupert; both are described as “intensely fragrant.”
Muse in Wooden Shoes 
om goodness – I LOVE the Clothilde
I KNOW! Isn’t it gorgeous – the flowers look like peonies! (Calm down, Mals…. deep breath…)
Six years ago my yard was pasture, and I really haven’t done much in the way of landscaping. I don’t even have any roses yet (I do have peonies, though).
So…sooooo….jealous…. The only thing missing from my perfect SF life is some dirt to call my own. Peonies…. sigh.
To me, peonies mean nostalgia and beauty and the women of my family. One grandmother grew them; the other didn’t garden but adored peonies. (She called them “pineys,” in her mountain accent.) They’re my sister’s favorite flower. And my Sarah Bernhardts bloom around my daughter’s birthday.
Closest to real-life peony scent? The Healing Garden In Bloom, cheapie drugstore frag now sadly discontinued.
Now planning to plant apple trees. I’ve been waiting until we got our septic drainfield issue under control, which was resolved at the end of last summer, so now I can go ahead with fruit trees. Also hoping for roses – low maintenance, if at all possible…
(Do you have a balcony where you could put a few pots?)
I find Yves Rocher’s Pur Désir de Pivoine fairly close to my Sarah Bernhardt’s fragrance. It doesn’t have the breathtaking, heart-stabbing bit, but it does the powdery-not-quite-rose bit rather well.
I must get on with planting the two-eyes-per-tuber bag o’ peonies I bought a few weeks ago from Costco. And I will not – not – visit vintagegardens.com .
Yeah, right.
Hmmm. Must look that up. Not the same as the YR plain-old Pivoine, but Pur Desir de Pivoine?
Gosh, I could spend hours at that website.
Ah – I’ve just read that the gorgeous Clotilde tends to ball in humid weather; she’s not, therefore, a good choice for NC gardens. There – saved!
Darn, we have humid weather too – although we’re in the mountains and it’s not humid here like it is in, say, Richmond or DC. I’ve never grown any roses myself, and I’m really tempted by the old-fashioned ones you don’t have to pamper like a baby.