Left - Rosa 'Double Delight ' & Rosa 'Mary Magdalene' 10 September 2025

 

Scent has been important in my life. As a boy I can remember the scent of my father which was a combination of a lavender aftershave, his Player’s Navy Cut cigarettes and his Old Smuggler Argentine Scotch.

My mother often told me (she taught me to smell behind the ears) that I had the smell of an Englishman. She also told me that when she would deplane in the US the smell was of French fries. In Mexico the smell was of tortillas.

I can still remember the sweet smell of my Rosemary. She stopped using perfume but there was something there, behind her ears.

While at my now advanced age of 83 I am quickly losing my sense of taste my nose is as good as ever. Today I cut these two blooms of very fragrant roses. Double Delight smells like candy and Mary Magdalene has the complex smell that the English call myrrh. It is a combination of Pernod, Magnolia grandiflora, and some other addition that is slightly medicinal. Most of the members of the Vancouver Rose Society do not like the scent. My opinion is that you must be a snob to really appreciate that myrrh.

I am a snob as was my Rosemary.