Hello All! So long story short my Nana was known for her roses. Folks to would drive to her house so they too could enjoy her rose garden. I planted a beautiful 'Outta the Blue' shrub last year in my memory garden only to find out that her absolute favorite was yellow roses not purple Please help...I need some suggestions for a yellow reblooming med size shrub...prefer fragrance over looks but if I can get both Thanks in advance for you help and belated Happy Mother's Day!!

For the first time, I am growing some yellow roses that I chose for disease resistance and fragrance. The ones that are likely to be available at garden centers are:

Sparkle & Shine (lemon fragrance)
Sunshine Daydream (lemon fragrance)
Eternal Flame

The ones that are probably available only by mail order:

The Poet's Wife (a fairly new David Austin rose)
Winter Sun (a Kordes rose available from Palatine Roses, Chamblee Rose Nursery and a few other suppliers)
Sunny Sky (a Kordes rose available from sources listed above)

I first saw Sparkle & Shine blooming at Longwood Gardens in early December, 2016. Then I saw it blooming on May 8, 2017. It was the only rose in the garden that was blooming that early in the season. A rose gardener at Longwood reported that Sparkle & Shine is very hardy and disease-resistant.

Wow! Carol thank you so much!!

Other roses that might be worth some consideration -

I have grown:
- Julia Child - accounts vary on fragrance. May have mild blackspot problems in your area, but it is wonderfully branched, vigorous, and generous with its flowers. It can be glorious.
- Lady Pamela Carol - a light lemon scent to its slightly informal pale yellow flowers. Nicely branched plant. It takes some years to establish, is not a flower machine IME, and it's a favorite of nibbling deer. A slowly-developing subtle beauty.
- Charlotte - another David Austin rose with flowers that fade a bit as they age, a garden-friendly yellow. I've not grown it in the NE, but I'm happy with the one I grow here. Arching habit.
- Might be the wrong color, and it lacks much fragrance, but South Africa would make a bold statement. A big, open shrub.
- Other Ideas--- If you have a great deal of space (say eight feet in every direction at least) and a good wall or fence to train it on, Graham Thomas would be perfect. A close relative, Golden Celebration is more compact but, IME, is probably too prone to black spot in the NE to consider.
- If space were really limited you might consider the miniature Rise 'n'Shine. Again, not fragrant but robust and cheery.

I have not grown:
- Neal recently posted photos of his Golden Fairy Tale rose. Sounds like he's fond of it both for its vigor and for its generosity in bloom. Kordes Roses claims that it is fragrant. When I gardened in the NE I found I had a better batting average with Kordes Roses than with most other roses bred after WWII. Blackspot resistance and general vigor were usually more satisfactory.
- Not fragrant at all... but it might be a great little yellow flower machine... Lemon Fizz.

You can find more on these roses at this site or at HelpMeFind.com.
Good Luck.

I grew and loved the oldie 'Sutters Gold'. It has amber shades. 'Dr Verhage' is supposed to be one of the most fragrant yellows. If you can get David Austin's 'Molineux', it is said to be very disease resistant and highly fragrant. Likewise 'Diamond Jubilee' which is a buff yellow.

Mercy, y'all have been a huge help...thank you so much!! Now I've got to look these beauties up!!

I haven't found Golden Fairytale to be as fragrant as some sites describe. Here it is a very light, but pleasant fragrance- one you have to put your nose close to the bloom to detect. It's a fantastic grower though, but may get too large for the spot you have in mind if you're looking for a mid size shrub- mine is 5-6' tall and nearly as wide in its 3rd year in my garden.

Solero is a smaller plant, but also vigorous and disease resistant. It also has a light, pleasant fragrance, but again one you have to get close to detect.

I just planted another Kordes yellow floribunda called Tupelo Honey that has a nice fragrance (not heavy, but detectable when standing nearby). It has only been in the ground a week, so I can't yet report on its growth habits, but generally I have good luck with modern Kordes roses.

Julia Child

A generosity of blooms that's not very common in roses.

Graham Thomas


Sometimes Graham Thomas that can take your breath away. But it really does need to be trained on a structure.

Oh my....those are gorgeous!! Ok...definitely a 'newbie' question but when a rose is described as having a strong damask fragrance - what does that mean? Is 'damask' similar or the same as the old time rose scent?

I'd have to say "Yes, I think so."

I think that attar of roses, the material refined from the damask rose Kazanlik and for the fragrance industry is pretty close to the old time rose smell. The damask rose Ispahan, growing in my garden as a slightly sweeter and softer sensibility - maybe like attar of roses mixed with a touch of peony. I think the hybrid tea rose Grande Dame might have a damask sort of a smell.

There are a number of roses that have this smell, but I'm not sure what else smells like the damask rose.

Ispahan's fragrance is among my favorite rose smells. It's also very generous in bloom but the blooms are not quite two inches across and the plant does not repeat. It's also a space hog in the garden.

Odors one can find in other roses are various fruit smells. Or fruit in general. Lady Pamela Carol sometimes smells a bit like lemon zest. Sometimes one smells raspberry or pear. Another smell in roses is myrrh, a smell common among David Austin roses, especially Ambridge Rose. On rare occasions there might be a hint of pepper. Or maybe some herbal smells. And, I nearly forgot, green tea - sometimes with a touch of jasmine - hence the name for tea and hybrid tea roses.

It's hard to explain odors, and I don't know much about the topic.

The issue with yellow and fragrance is two fold. Yellow pigment (carotenoids) break down easily with UV, the other is the carotenoids are often broken down to convert to fragrance.....hence the great and rapid fading of many yellows. The ones with better color retention often have a slight orange tint (protects against if better) but if strongly fragrant will likely still fade because of the other issue.

The other issue with yellows (and lavenders since they come from yellows) is the petals are typically thinner so blooms tend to burst more quickly than other colours.

Having said that though, given the species used to get yellow (r. foetida) it's a little bit amazing that yellows are where they are.

I don't think we'll get colour stabile yellows until r. hulthemia is bred for yellow rather than the eye blotch.

Excellent info...thank you again for your patience with my questions. I'm one of those oddballs that prefer fragrance over looks so a fading bloom with a great scent is perfectly fine for my needs. That being said...I'm selfish (with a small yard) so I'd want a rebloomer if avail.

Nothing wrong in knowing what you want and having high standards.

Steve812 said:Nothing wrong in knowing what you want and having high standards.

Hi,

Yellow roses are my favorite too, and I recently fell in love with Henry Fonda and Oregold. I also have Gold Medal and White Licorice.

HF is a deep yellow, nice buds and wonderful fragrance. Oregold blooms beautifully and is easy to care for. White Licorice has a licorice-lemon scent to it. It's supposed to be pastel yellow-white, but mine are butter yellow, like margarine. *shoulder shrug* A lot of people have good things to say about Gold Medal, but I can't say the same. It's been very temperamental with me so far.

Good luck with your choice.

Those are all roses broadly considered good choices; several have been standards in commerce for decades.

I've killed Gold Medal three or four times. I don't think I've ever had one leaf out for me. Some blame might lie with furry nibbling creatures in my garden. I have high hopes for White Licorice, but it's not been in my garden long enough to bloom. I always forget about Henry Fonda and Oregold. Need to add them to my long list.

I was in my garden, watering my roses and right at nose level I spotted a blossom on a four year old Selfridges (Berolina). I held it to my nose and suddenly realized that this bright but garden-friendly yellow rose also has some tea and damask fragrance. It's a reasonable candidate for the job. It's the only hybrid tea rose that is unconditionally healthy in my zone 7b garden. It's (usually) available from Palatine Roses.

Steve - she's gorgeous!!! Saw this Week's one at HD last night and was in awe over the sherbet mix of color - sadly not the scent And although I'm a photographer with a fairly nice camera these were taken with my cell - no edits....the blooms on these were that beautiful!!

Chantell, That is a true beauty! Lovely photo.