This rose is a beautiful vivid colour. It is amazingly floriferous: a bare root plant planted last autumn in a 40 cm pot produced an exceptional number of blooms during both its first and second flush. The shape of the partially open flower is very beautiful, a little like an Austin rose -- only better! Helpmefind describes this rose as having a centifolia fragrance. Mine, grown in England, smells nothing like a centifolia (which I have also grown). The scent of Reine Marguerite d'Italie is sharper than that of the cabbage roses, particularly in hot weather. I find it rather like papaya - pleasant, but always on the point of going off a little.