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I know don Juan is supposed to be fragrant.... but for some reason the one I purchased has very little scent. What would cause this? bad genes? the weather? soil type?
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#1 of 11 posted
9 JAN 13 by
Meryl
I found the same thing but the cause turned out to be my sense of smell. I have no difficulty appreciating the typical red-rose fragrance of roses like Mr Lincoln but my nose seems not to recognise some important chemical component of Don Juan's scent. The flowers of my Don Juan are highly perfumed according to some friends but very indifferent to my nose. Just a suggestion. In your case, the cause may be quite otherwise.
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thanks for the reply. I also heard "climate change" is causing roses to not be as fragrant as in past decades. who knows for sure?
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Being oils and alcohols, fragrance can often be undetectable, not only due to the individual nose's ability to perceive them, but also due to climatic conditions. Too hot, too dry, too windy, too cold or too wet and they may evaporate and blow away quickly, or not even evaporate at all. Like when you apply your cologne. Sometimes, you can smell it for hours. Others, it dissipates nearly immediately after you put it on. You might try cutting opening buds to bring indoors to fully open. In the house, the air is much more still than outdoors. Often, the humidity is higher unless you dehumdify it and it can be warmer than outdoors. This has often permitted "unscented" blooms to be appreciated for their scent. Gene Boerner, the famed breeder for J&P, often tested for fragrance in his seedlings by putting blooms under his hat on his head where they would be warm and humid. I grew Brown Velvet for years, never appreciating its scent, until a friend wrote to be brag on what a wonderful scent it had. I opened some indoors and found they did smell quite good. If you still can't smell them opened indoors and in other seasons, perhaps it is your sniffer, allergies or perhaps the effects of some medication you might be taking? Anti histamines knock out my sense of smell and much of my sense of taste. Then, there are some scents and tastes I am simply immune to. Tropicana has been touted for decades as having a rich scent of ripe raspberries, though it is "green and wet" to me. The scent of Tea in roses smells like clean Tupperware with Orthene, definitely not a desirable scent to my nose!
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[HMF Editor - Post removed: Different opinions are expected, and welcomed, but a level of civility is always required please.]
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Scent is due to the evaporation of oils and alcohols. Anything which causes hotter, drier conditions will cause the oils and alcohols to evaporate faster. A climate which is hotter than it used to be could easily cause the roses or any other plant you are used to smelling to seem less scented due to the chemicals you are used to being able to smell evaporating faster. I observed it. I lived and grew roses in the Santa Clarita Valley in So Cal and in Encino where it was warm with marine influence. Before we sold and moved north, "winters" became warmer and the summers became hotter. The afternoon cooling ocean breezes stopped coming. Where it historically was possible to open the house windows between 3 and 4 PM daily to allow the cool ocean breezes to blow through and cool the interior, air conditioning was (and is now) required to accomplish the same effect. Conversely, a climate becoming colder and wetter can inhibit the evaporation of the oils and alcohols, preventing the scent from being able to be perceived. It's literally weather conditions combined with personal olfactory sensitivities. So, feel free to poo-poo "climate change", but increased heat and aridity, or increased cold and wet, will reduce the chemicals which generate the scents you're used to being able to perceive.
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[HMF Editor - We have removed this post as political, defamatory or personally condescending posts are not allowed. There are many very popular websites for one to express non-gardening related views and opinions.]
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#9 of 11 posted
9 FEB by
jedmar
Can we please keep discussions to roses and not divert to politics? "You such and such" is inappropriate here.
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I second that request. I joined this community for the roses, not rants.
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Our apologies to our HMF guests for not noting this earlier.
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#4 of 11 posted
23 FEB 24 by
Jackie13
I can smell the fragrance of Don Juan and Firefighter but absolutely no scent at all from the big reds, Papa Meilland, Mr. Lincoln, Oklahoma,Crimson Glory. So strange!
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It's an interesting specimen rose....great BIG buds, strong sweet scent, high centered form. Lots of personality. I found it to be fair in hardiness and disease resistance. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder, I think the smokey purplish-red color to be kind of somber. Would go well in a funeral home.
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#1 of 3 posted
12 JAN 13 by
goncmg
Love the post because Oklahoma does have personality and yes, it sure is a somber/old school sort of red. Grew it for years in Northern California and just tonight ordered it from Regan and looking forward to being reunited. There is just nothing truly LIKE it----Crimson Glory is similar (or vice versa) in the bloom, but CG is looser and floppier and fades and far more purple. Ink Spots CAN be almost as dark and is a much clearer, truer red beneath it all but the bloom is so small and there is no fragrance and the plant and bloom just lack a lustiness that Oklahoma has. And the same to the siblings, Mr. Lincoln and Papa Meilland: on paper they both are superior. Lincoln is by FAR the most strong, and the color is similar to Oklahoma.....but again, no lustiness, no joy in the bloom. Meilland has the best shape but......Oklahoma can be raggedy in growth, it may bot win shows, yes it does have deep inside that darn white mark that goes all the way back to Gloire des Rosomaines...........but it is here 50 years later despite many odds, despite the fact that Olympiad and Kentucky Derby---both great roses and hallmark reds--- are no longer really available.............testimony that most people want a red rose to smell, many people remain intrigued at just how close to black this one can get, and that rose growers respond to PERSONALITY............
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When I started seriously growing roses in the 80s Los Angeles was all about Olympiad for the next 15 years. The florist perfect Crimson unscented roses were everywhere here, definitely the "it red". Then (as you mentioned) it became scarce in the last ten years. Now that roses seem to be out of fashion, many of the best rose nurseries in LA have closed and Olympiad is back in stock at many of the remaining nurseries this spring. Oklahoma is unsupassed for its perfect big hybrid perpetual type HT ultra fragrant deluxe dark red bloom. I like the blueing that seems to bother everybody else. The vigor of the bush and remonancy usually seem to be lacking though. I have seen a few rare exceptions (unfortunately not mine.) I am now trying Climbing Oklahoma now from a rooted "Vintage Roses" cutting. I refuse to give up on this mythic rose.
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#3 of 3 posted
3 MAY 13 by
Kebun
Personally, I found that blackish-dark red colouring to be striking despite the somberness. It certainly makes one hell of a 'statement' surrounded by the other red roses in the garden and gives the garden that touch of 'exotic' which not even Mr Lincoln can provide
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What a beautiful rose. Too bad it just doesn't want to shake blackspot!
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#1 of 1 posted
10 APR 13 by
jmile
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area-Sacramento Valley area. I rarely spray my roses and this year my Abracadabra didn't get pruned. Right now it is a huge mass of Apricot - Yellow - Pink roses. I looked for black spot but didn't find any leaves with it. Sometimes my roses get black spot on the old growth if I do not get around to pruning them. This rose was clean. It is so massive and full of flowers. It is never without blooms from Spring to late fall. The fragrance is heavenly even from a distance. It is just a great rose in my 9B zone.
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I got rid of my Dolly Parton a few years ago.... really don't know why , I just didn't appeal to me all that much. The fragrance was that of strong, old, stale perfume . the plant didn't seem very vigorous or disease resistant. I guess the flowers were large and bright and it had that to go for it...... This in no way is a negative comment on the Real Dolly,-- the singer, that is.
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