7 Most Fragrant Roses to Boost the Beauty of Your Easy-Care Container Garden
Does anything conjure up the voluptuous and lazy days of summer quite like the scent of roses? Uplifting, revitalising yet calming too, fragrant roses are a fantastic choice to add a burst of fabulous perfume to your low maintenance garden.
These 7 most fragrant roses will all thrive in large containers — you only need a tiny space to create your very own scented sanctuary.
Now is a great time to plant them.
You’ll be bathing in sweetly scented rose petals in just a few short months if you do…
1. Lady Emma Hamilton
A showstopping rose in all senses of the word. Lady Emma Hamilton is definitely one of the most fragrant roses for a container.
Rich, ruby buds open to warm coppery tangerine flowers. The glossy foliage is dark bronze green when young, and a gorgeous contrast with the vibrant flowers.
Named for Lord Nelson’s mistress on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, this fabulously scented rose will grow to around 90cm x 90cm.
Lady Emma Hamilton scent
A bewitchingly sweet and fruity fragrance will tantalise your nose. Layers of mango, grape and orange develop as you breathe in this glorious perfume.
2. The Generous Gardener
A fantastically versatile English rose, The Generous Gardener can be grown as a shrub (just prune it to the size you want) or let it climb up a wall, fence or pillar. The soft pink flowers open to a beautiful water lily shape and are produced in fragrant masses all through the summer.
As the flowers open fully to show the rich golden stamens, this stunner is bee friendly too.
Named for the 75th anniversary of the National Garden Scheme where people open their gardens to the public in the UK. This gorgeously scented rose will grow to 4.5m, but it’s easy to keep it much smaller by lopping bits off twice a year. Honestly, it really won’t mind.
The Generous Gardener scent
In cooler weather, you might smell lemon sherbet notes. On a sunny day, you may get hints of musk and myrrh. It’s a powerful, complex and captivating scent which everyone I know loves.
3. Munstead Wood
A glorious picture-perfect deep crimson red rose. With rich and opulent velvet petals, Munstead Wood invites you to stroke its marvellous flowers.
The fresh, young leaves are reddish bronze which catch the spring light wonderfully.
Named for the home of English garden designer Gertrude Jekyll in Surrey, England. This glamorous rose will grow to around 110cm x 110cm.
Munstead Wood scent
Imagine you left a bowl of plums, damsons and blackberries on a warm windowsill for a few hours. Then returned to it and inhaled deeply.
The scent of Munstead Wood is like all the bounties of autumn wrapped up in a red velvet flower. A worthy candidate for one of the most fragrant roses for containers.
4. Jude the Obscure
A glowing golden goblet of an English rose, Jude the Obscure is a stunner. Huge chalice shaped flowers are densely petalled and heavily luxurious.
The petals are different shades of yellow inside and out, and harmonise with the light green foliage spectacularly.
Named for the main character in the book of the same name by Thomas Hardy. Be warned — it’s a beautiful, but harrowing read. This opulent rose will grow to around 125cm x 110cm.
Jude the Obscure scent
One of the richest perfumes I’ve ever smelled from a flower. Intense, sweetly tropical fruit aromas with a touch of vanilla. It’s heady stuff.
Jude the Obscure is a bit susceptible to rain damage, so why not cut plenty of the luscious blooms to enjoy indoors?
5. Ferdinand Pichard
Born to be a focal point of your garden, Ferdinand Pichard is a showstopping spectacle of a rose.
With ridiculously flamboyant and cheerfully striped petals like an old fashioned circus tent, this is a rose you’ll be delighted to share your garden with.
Bees will adore its open golden stamens and feed happily for hours.
Ferdinand Pichard is from the Old Rose family, dating back to 1910. This stunning, scented rose will grow to around 125cm x 110cm.
Ferdinand Pichard scent
Deliciously rich and spicy with hints of black tea and clove, this is a scented rose that will delight you. A complex perfume that changes and develops as the temperature increases.
6. Sharifa Asma
Called ‘The Turkish Delight’ rose in my family. Delicately shell shaped pale pink buds open to a warm pink flushed with coral. When you combine these colours with the golden stamens, it’s like looking into a spectacular sunset.
Named after an Omani princess at the request of her family. This charming, scented rose will grow to around 120cm x 90cm.
Sharifa Asma scent
The scent of Sharifa Asma is a classic Old Rose fragrance, with hints of white grape and lychee. Lifted with a sprinkling of lemon zest to stop it becoming too sweet.
This is a glorious rose to cut and bring into your house. I can’t resist snipping off a few buds of one of the most fragrant roses for containers.
7. The Ingenious Mr Fairchild
Bearing rich and soft magenta flowers in deep cup shapes, The Ingenious Mr Fairchild is a magnificent English rose.
The flowers stand nicely proud and upright, to drink their fill of sunlight and put forth their fabulous fragrance.
Named for Thomas Fairchild, who made the first recorded rose hybrid. This spectacular, scented rose will grow to around 140cm x 120cm.
The Ingenious Mr Fairchild scent
An intriguing blend of sun warmed raspberries and strawberries with a tantalising whisper of aromatic mint. It’s impossible to take just one sniff of this captivating rose.
The Nitty Gritty
Yes, you absolutely can (and should) grow these best 7 fragrant roses in containers.
They will reward you with repeat flushes of glorious scented flowers all throughout the summer.
In SW England, that’s from May through till November. Sometimes even longer.
What other deliciously fragrant flowers can you think of that will bloom for that long?
Choose a container at least 45cm in diameter. And make sure it has drainage holes in the bottom.
Plant with John Innes No 3 to nurture them for the long term. Mix a few handfuls of horticultural grit in as you pot up your new fragrant rose.
All your fragrant rose needs is:
- A decent amount of sun (6 hours in summer)
- Watering well when it’s dry
- Feeding twice a year
- Having dead flowers snipped off
Growing fragrant roses in containers can be utterly life-enhancing.
Breathing in the sweet scent on a dewy morning.
Luxuriating in the perfume on a warm summer evening, glass in hand.
Life is made of simple joys. Sometimes we stumble across them.
And sometimes we can create our own.
Growing fragrant roses in pots will bring you an abundance of scented joyful moments to treasure.
Why not try growing one (or more!) of these 7 most fragrant roses for containers? You won’t regret it.
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