It’s time for the first and only miniature! The only miniature rose that has won a Gamble award is here! Well almost. First, let’s talk about the winner from 2007. Fragrant Plum. This is the same story as Chrysler Imperial. Remember how I’m an idiot. Yea. I got rid of this rose a few years ago, because it just wasn’t perfect I replaced it with Plum Perfect. I want my Fragrant Plum back. Hybridized by Jack E. Christensen it’s a mauve rose with pink petals and a classic shape. The fragrance is classic centifolia with a bit of grape. So once again the fruity floral family. Loubidoo by Christian Louboutin smells similar. Sweet Chariot. The miniature king Ralph S. Moore finally makes the list. Sweet Chariot is a purple cutie. With a max height of eighteen inches, it’s just right for a container. The fragrance is a heavenly damask, a solid entry into floral family. Stella by Stella McCartney is a great pair.
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When rosarians think red, they tend to think of this one. Mr. Lincoln. The reddest of the reddest. Mr. Lincoln is thought by many to be the iconic red rose. Another Gamble Medal Winner from the partnership between Herbert C. Swim and Weeks Roses, hybridized in 1964. The aroma is decadent, a heavy, dark damask with the slightest note of oud to finish. I would place it firmly in the floral family. Amber Nuit by Dior comes the closest in capturing its essence. Truly lovely. Sheila’s Perfume. Ka-pow! Sheila’s Perfume is a shock of color. It was the result of a complex cross by John Sheridan in 1985. It turns on and off throughout the season, taking it’s time to recharge and emerge more electric. If you like yellow this rose is perfect. The hot summer temperatures in Utah make it lemon with magenta trim. The fragrance family for Sheila’s Perfume is a tug of war between floral and green. Three quarters centifolia, one quarter damask, with an entrancing note of hyacinth. The start of the new millennium! Starting with 2001. Angel Face. Heat tolerant, mauve, and fabulous fragrance? Yes, Please! I use Angel Face all the time in my designs as a landscaper. I suggest this gal for any beginning rosarian, and there always seems to be one lurking at a nursery along the Wasatch Front. It was patented by Swim and Weeks in 1968. It smells delicate, citrus-y, with a little bit of parsley. Firmly in the citrus fragrance family with a subtle note of centifolia. I would argue that its fragrance is the purest citrus note in all of rosedom. COCO Mademoiselle L’eau Privée by Chanel is a good match. Secret. When I pick a blossom from Secret, I almost feel like I have the world’s most perfect hand-sized soap. The large multicolored petals are reminiscent of porcelain. Created by independent hybridizer Daniel Tracy in 1992, I like it best when it’s a little warm and the whites pop. The fragrance is a combo of centifolia and multiflora, with the smallest pinch of pepper at the end. It fits in the soft floral family and Idôle by Lancôme is very similar. The roses behind today's little cardboard punch hole are the only Gamble Medal recipients of the 80s and 90s. Double Delight. If there is one rose that personifies the 80s, it would have to be double delight. It looks like it came right out of Benneton. The bold colors smack of Aquanet-ed hair, high pigment eye shadow, and Vacation by the Gos-Gos. playing on your Walkman. The great Herbert C. Swim hybridized this icon, and only Gamble Medal Winner in the 1980s. The fragrance is peppery with a bit of anise, nutmeg, and rosa gallica. Miss Dior is the perfect perfume to compliment. Fragrant Hour. This one is rarer in the United States. It comes from the Irish New Zealand hybridizer Samuel Darragh McGredy IV. McGredy deserves a shout-out. He hybridized an impressive 830 cultivars in his lifetime, including New Zealand, Marriotta, Olympiad and Sexy Rexy. The color of fragrant hour is unusual, a bronze pink. While the fragrance is a clean, classic damask fragrance. Firmly in the floral fragrance family just like the perfume Turkish Rose by Nest. It's finally time for the first non-hybrid tea. Okay, but first let's do one more. The 1974 winner. Papa Meilland. Papa is a Beauty and the Beast style rose and a perennially contender for “Best of Show”. Of course, any rose bearing the Meilland name is bound to be impressive. Hybridized in 1963 by Alain Meilland, papa’s mama is also a Gamble medal winner, Chrysler Imperial. Not only does it make a great cut flower but it’s also a whopper with the average bloom size being 5.5”. Damask to the core. The fragrance is pure and perfect. Essence No. 1 by Elie Saab makes a great pair for Papa. Sunsprite. It’s the first floribunda to win the Gamble Award! Up to this point all the roses have belonged to the same class, hybrid tea. But this little baby is a gatecrasher. It’s a compact cultivar rarely growing over three feet. It was hybridized in 1973 by Reimer Kordes, the son of Wilhelm Kordes II. The happy yellow blossoms never stop throughout the season, and it does pretty well in part shade. It is number #3 in my top ten favorite roses. The fragrance is a mixture of centifolia and honey. Eglantine by Fragonard is a complimentary scent. Orange was the "it"of the late sixties, early seventies. And each of the Gamble medal winners from 1966, 1968, and 1970 luxuriate it in. Sutter's Gold. Sutter’s is one of Herbert C. Swim’s most famous cultivars. It was introduced by Armstrong Nursery in California in 1946. The blossoms feature heavy veining that becomes more apparent the cooler the temperature is outside. The fragrance is equally unique with rosa centifolia and quince, reminiscent of granny smith apple and carrot. A fragrance in the same fruity floral family is Very Good Girl by Carolina Herrera. Granada. I sadly lost this rose last year and I have been trying to find it ever since. It is the ultimate package; a showstopper, one of those roses whose beauty is never quite captured in photos, and fragrance to boot. It was hybridized in 1963 by Robert V. Lindquist. It was only a matter of time before this cultivar took the Gamble, as its mama was previous winner Tiffany. The fragrance is a spicy damask in the floral oriental family. A similar fragrance is Paris – Paris by Chanel. Fragrant Cloud. The 2022 Utah Rosarian Survey revealed that this cultivar is Utah's 3rd most favorite. Hybridized by German company Tantau in 1956, it ranges from coral to dark orange. But the fragrance! Oh my the fragrance! It's what keeps rosarians coming back for more. The scent profile is damask with the fruitiness of cucumber, the musk of a tomato vine, and a teensy bit of earthy nutmeg. Solid fruity floral. Chance Eau Tendre by Chanel has similar notes. Unlike Day 1, which for many was a new introduction, Day 2 of the advent calendar features two familiar favorites that can be bought nearly anywhere. Elise Hutchings, our universally beloved Utah Rose Society president has one of these beauties that originally came from her mother’s yard. The first time I smelled it I was so jealous with envy; I knew I had to have it in my own collection. Tiffany. Patented in 1954 by Robert V. Lindquist. Tiffany is a masterpiece in color, flowing through a unique mixture of pink, yellow, and occasionally white petals with each temperature change. Not only is color noteworthy, but the fragrance, mmmmm. It fits firmly in the fruity category, with a later note of citrus. Ralph by Ralph Lauren is a comparable perfume. It is in my ten favorite cultivars. Before I get into the 1965 winner; a brief sidenote: I am an idiot. I often get impatient, and if a certain bush doesn’t blow me away, I get rid of it. And then when I see it in someone else’s garden a year later, normally Betty and Ken Langeberg’s, I realize I actually want it. This is what happened when I first bought Chrysler Imperial. I ended up paying double the next season. Chrysler Imperial. Patented in 1953 by Dr. Walter E. Lammert’s, it’s the classic red rose. It also has beautifully long canes that make great cut roses. It has the typical 6-8 week bloom cycle of a hybrid tea, so it’s not as floriferous as other cultivars. Fragrance-wise I describe Chrysler Imperial as a complex, dark damask. It fits in the Floral family but has a musk nuance that grows the more you smell it. Roses De Chloé by Chloé is a complimentary fragrance. The first Gamble medal winner is a cultivar that few know today. But back in 1961, it was the fragrant favorite. Its decline in popularity is surprising given that the rose had been around for twenty-six years before receiving the medal; hybridized before 1935 by William J.H. Kordes, the scion of the Kordes breeding dynasty. So what is the first winner of the James Alexander Gamble Fragrance Award? Crimson Glory. Its red and purple blooms resemble the modern favorite Oklahoma. And while it is more susceptible to diseases like mildew and black spot, unlike Oklahoma it’s cold hardy down to zone 4b. The fragrance fits nicely into the floral oriental category, with notes of damask and clove. A perfume from the same category is Narciso Rodriguez for Her. Classic and warm. A friend from HelpMeFind, Nastarana, informed me that the name comes from a poem by Robert Burns: “A ROSE-BUD by my early walk, Adown a corn-enclosed bawk, Sae gently bent its thorny stalk, All on a dewy morning. Ere twice the shades o' dawn are fled, In a' its crimson glory spread, And drooping rich the dewy head, It scents the early morning.” There is no standardized way to describe rose fragrance. Some use their own private scales, others hire “noses” to smell their roses, and still others are nose blind from Covid. My sister tells me I have the nose of a pregnant woman. If there is a dirty dishtowel two houses over I am sure to identify it. I like to use the Fragrance Wheel developed by Michael Edwards. Mr. Edwards developed this as a tool for perfume sellers and developers to discuss their scents. Although I don’t use the aromatic fougere. Fougere is typically masculine while chypre is typically feminine. The description really isn’t needed in roses as no one wants to buy only manly-smelling roses or lady-smelling roses. As old Gerty said "a rose is a rose is a rose".
If you want more information about the fragrance wheel please visit https://www.fragrancesoftheworld.com/FragranceWheel Sadly, this year for Christmas I will not getting any live roses. The joys of living in a 7a climate. But while my beauties are sleeping, I’m going to give the gift of fragrance! That’s right over the next twelve days y’all are getting a Fragrant Rose Advent Calendar!! And what’s behind each little cardboard slot? Well, they’re cultivars that have received the James Alexander Gamble Fragrance Medal, of course. The James Gamble Fragrance Medal is of particular importance this year, because it was actually awarded. The ARS Prizes and Awards Committee award doesn’t award it every year. In fact, during 1986 and 1997 there was an eleven-year gap. The Gamble Medal is only given when a cultivar is deemed worthy. The only criteria is each rose must have a at least a 7.5 in Handbook for Selecting Roses. There are 28 cultivars to make it through in 12 days. So, stop by the Rosette tomorrow when the countdown starts. Please see the next post the Fragrance Wheel to begin. |