Why does my scented rose not have any scent

shazlit

I’ve just bought climbing rose “Bathsheba” . It wasn’t in flower when I got it, but I’d researched it and got it for how it looked. Also scent was important. The first bud has opened and it’s just as lovely as in the pictures I’ve seen. But where’s the perfume that was promised. There’s no smell whatsoever not even a hint. No matter the time of day I’ve sniffed it. Very disappointed as beautiful though it is, it was said to have a fairly strong perfume. 

Dovefromabove

Hi @shazlit and welcome to the forum 😊 

Many roses take a couple of years or so before they mature enough to develop their perfume. 

Hopefully all you need to do is ‘cultivate’ a little patience along with your roses 😉 

edhelka

There are many possibilities. The rose can be too young. It can be weather or time of the day dependant. It can be just this bloom and the next one could be fragrant.
But there is also the possibility that you aren't able to detect the specific fragrance notes of this rose. This happens more often than we think, we all have different noses.

B3

Back in the olden days, you could wander around a garden centre,and sniff. Nowadays, you have to go by the label or the internet description. 
I used to love to visit Wych Cross. They specialised in roses and there was often a bloom you could sniff.  It got wyvaled so it's probably closed down now.