Can you honestly say you can walk past a rose without resisting the temptation to smell it? After all, it’s heavenly scent will likely reward you. So go ahead: give your nose a treat by adding a fragrant rose to your garden or balcony.

Flower petals

The source of the rose’s essential oils is its petals. In general, this means that the more petals a rose has, the stronger its flowers will smell. When it comes to fragrance, double-flowering roses have the advantage. And roses will generate the strongest scent on warm days with low humidity and little wind. See for yourself sometime.

Perfume

Who doesn’t associate the scent of roses with love, romance and happiness? The intense fragrance of some roses is equal to that of perfume. Many are even grown for this purpose. Turkey, Bulgaria and other countries have large fields of roses that produce petals for the perfume industry.

Suit your own personal taste of rose fragrance

Some roses have stronger fragrances than others. As a rose bud’s petals open, the flower generates an increasingly stronger scent. Although most rose flowers have a sweet fragrance, some of them even have a fresh or spicy scent. When choosing one, keep on sniffing; after all, each person experiences scents a little differently.

Varieties

Roses are classified as groundcovers, climbers, shrubs, species roses and roses pruned into standards, but each group will include some fragrant varieties. And new rose varieties are constantly being added. When developing these new roses, breeders focus not only on obtaining varieties that are healthy but also ones with fragrant flowers. You’ll find the best fragrant rose varieties at better garden centres and retailers who specialise in roses.

Tips

Plant fragrant roses close to places where you frequently sit outdoors.
In July and August, remove any spent flowers since this will encourage the production of new buds.
Make your own potpourri to make your home smell like roses, or make your own rose water for indoor use.