I find it rather odd that this fairly old and apparently common rose has zero descendants listed. Is it sterile? Has anyone had hips on it?

I avoided this for ages on account of its ubiquity and I am very glad to have gotten over myself, finally, and bought it. It is for sure one of the best dark reds you could grow, at least in cool climates such as England. The shape is beautiful both in bud and when fully open. The colour is that sought after dark red with blackish shadings, and even in relatively high heat/sunshine the shade of red never goes off to become garish in the way that, say, Ena Harkness does. It was a little late coming into bloom compared to my other roses (it's its first year, so that might be the reason), but it has been in more or less constant production since. The fragrance is there in all weathers, even when windy, and at all stages of flower development. It is a very complex fragrance that reminds me of expensive perfume, rather like that of Signora Piero Puricelli. No damask at all to my nose. At the beginning of the season it seemed to have a weakness for rust (on the leaves closest to the soil, which were duly removed) but now it seems to have overcome that.

Velvet Fragrance is proving, in it's second summer with me, to be a very good bloomer and disease free bush. I am in zone 7.5, but we've had a much hotter summer than usual, high 80's and low 90's, and little rain, but nothing has bothered this rose, it just keeps blooming, with a strong fragrance and long lasting blooms.

Really good, healthy, fragrant darker red. It does not overtake a garden like many older, fragrant reds, and its easy to grow. Its major con is that it HATES high heat.