In praise of 'Duquesa'

'Duquesa' is a Tea rose that has only been in my garden since September. Yesterday I clipped off her first bloom, the one that you saw in Thursday's post, trying to start off on the right 'deadheading' foot, you know? I lifted the flower up to my nose and was amazed. Most Tea roses have a light fragrance but not 'Duquesa'! Such a strong, sweet fragrance, but I couldn't identify it. I kept sniffing but couldn't put a name to what I was smelling which is often the case for my, apparently, uneducated nose. I kept returning the flower to my sniffer until finally I remembered this rose's parentage, 'Monsieur Tillier' x 'Duchesse de Brabant'. Hmmm, was this the sweet raspberry tea fragrance I remembered from 'Duchesse de Brabant'? Not really. And besides that, DdB's fragrance was always fleeting to me, available at the first sniff and then strangely not for the second and third and so on, no matter how hard I would inhale from her petals. This 'Duquesa' flower was definitely unlike DdB in that her fragrance is 100% available, strongly available, even available the next morning in the bowl of water. Delicious and strong and sweet and long lasting, 'Duquesa' may be in a competition with 'Mrs B R Cant' for strongest and best fragrance in my garden. I am so thrilled with this rose. Beautiful flower form and fragrance! She's definitely a winner. How fortuitous that she's located in prime real estate!

She's a little bit peachier than this photo shows.

Thank you, Rose Petals Nursery!