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Scent not only changes over time, but with time of day. Early morning is when scents are strongest, the oils most powerful, and so when roses are harvested for rose oil.
Rose scent may be more powerful with the first blooms of summer. Rose scent even can change from outdoors to indoors. Just the cutting can change the chemical releases that we smell, so a rose not very fragrant outdoors may be quite scented once in a vase inside.
The other fact to keep in mind is that scent in flowers, including roses, is not meant by nature for us but rather for the pollinators of the flowers. Scents in flowers are signals to those pollinators such as some bees to come visit the flowers, and are often smelled before they see the flowers.
Flowers release scent when they are ready to be pollinated, which in roses often translates to a more powerful scent when flowers are half open.
In general, roses with the best scents are darker colors, have more petals, and have thick or velvety petals. Red and pink roses often smell like what we term “rose”. White and yellows often smell of violets, nasturtium, and lemon. Orange roses often smell of fruits, violets, nasturtium, and clove.
Most true rose oil comes from Bulgaria, Morocco, Iran, Turkey, and more recently from China. The oil is extracted from the petals either with alcohol or through distillation. The true oil is very expensive as it takes about 250 pounds of petals to make a mere ounce of oil.
For this reason, rose oil is often diluted with similarly scented oils such as geraniol from geraniums, or even the synthetic phenylethanol. While fine for fragrance uses, and excellent for making them affordable, if using rose oil medicinally you need the true oil and not a product marked “fragrance”.
Rose oil has been used medicinally from the ancient Chinese, through medieval times, even through the present. One use is for skincare, especially for dry, sensitive, and aging skin. Another use is as a mild sedative, antidepressant, and for stress conditions. Rose oil (or tea from the petals) may help digestion, stomach ailments, or sore throat.
Vitamins A, C, and P come from roses. Rose scent even may aid memory. In a German study, people spritzed with rose scent during a memory exercise, then again while sleeping, had 13 percent better recall.
The next time you smell a rose, try and discern some of the many possible scents and how they change over time and under different conditions.
Most when they see a rose bend down to sniff. If you’re like me, you probably never really thought much about rose fragrance except if it’s missing, faint, or how nice it is. Just what gives a rose its wonderful fragrance, and how this is used, is complex and fascinating.
Roses have been around and are documented longer than most of our garden plants. The earliest record of them seems to be rose leaves found in the Colorado Rockies, dating back 35 to 32 million years to the Paleolithic era. First mention of them, and their appearance in artistic motifs, was in Asia about 3000BC, with mention elsewhere about 2300 BC.
The fragrance of roses was valued by the Romans, used to scent rooms and after bathing. Cleopatra supposedly filled a room over a foot deep with rose petals while wooing Marc Anthony. The two main roses used in this era were the Damask and Gallica types.
Rose oil, often seen as “attar of roses” or “rose otto”, was probably first made in 10th century Persia. This was the first import of roses to Europe, leading to the subsequent growing of the plants there.
Prior to the Victorian era of the late 1800’s, fragrance in flowers was used for functions such as medicinally or to hide odors. This period saw the use of flowers in gardens and homes merely for their pleasing fragrance.
This era also saw the first attempts to define and classify scents. Yet, it wasn’t until later in the last century that the seven main rose scents were accepted, and the responsible chemicals identified.
The seven main rose scents are rose (or damask), nasturtium, orris (which is similar to violets), violets, apple, clove, and lemon (the fruit, not the blossoms). Orris is a compound used to fix or preserve odors.
Then there are 26 other less common odors you may smell in roses. These include such diverse ones as honeysuckle, moss, hyacinth, honey, wine, marigold, peppers, parsley, and fruits such as raspberry.
Scent in roses, depending on which one, comes from one or more of over 300 chemical compounds. Yet in rose oil, only four make up less than one percent but produce over 90 percent of the fragrance.
If you think rose scent is getting complicated, consider how we smell. These chemicals evaporate and our nose receptors pick up the volatile compounds. Each of these evaporate at a different rate, which means that rose fragrance will change over time. For example, clove evaporates 36 times more slowly than citrus, so once you pick up a citrus scent it can disappear with the clove scent appearing later.
If you garden in a cold, northern climate, and like roses, have you considered the Canadian Explorer series? Or if you have some, have you wondered just who these explorers were?
This series of about 22 cultivars was bred from the 1960’s through the 1990’s, at the agriculture research stations first at Ottawa, Ontario and later at l’Assomption, Quebec. They were bred to withstand the cold Canadian winters, with parents either rugosas or Kordesii hybrids (the latter being bred in the late 1940’s in Germany).
Most are variations of reds and pinks. Although most don’t bloom continuously, as the less hardy hybrid teas and some other series, many do have repeat blooms. The following selections from this series can be placed in three main groups-the long cane or climbers, rugosas, and shrub roses.
Among those with long canes that arch, or can be trained as climbers, is William Baffin. Bred in 1983, it has deep pink, double, and fragrant blooms. This British arctic explorer, in expeditions in 1615-16, was sent to find the supposed Northwest Passage across the New World for seafarers to more quickly reach the spice market of the orient.
Henry Kelsey is another long cane rose, bred in 1981, with some disease resistance. It has medium red, semi-double, fragrant flowers that usually repeat bloom.
This rose’s namesake was the first inland explorer for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the late 1600’s. Other long cane selections include Captain Samuel Holland, John Cabot, and John Davis.
The rugosa roses have fairly unique multi-part or compound leaves, usually a rich green, and usually many thorns. David Thompson is a rugosa in this series, bred in 1979 with deep pink, double, and fragrant flowers.
It is one of my favorites as it is one of the few with continuous blooms through the summer. This explorer was a famous fur trader, and geographer, in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Henry Hudson is a name most recognize for the river in New York and bay north of Ontario that he explored in the 1600’s, once again in search of a Northwest Passage. The rose by this name, another rugosa, was bred in 1976 and has white, double, and very fragrant flowers.
Martin Frobisher was another English explorer looking for the Northwest Passage, only in the late 1500’s. The rugosa rose with his name, bred in 1968, has light pink flowers, semi-double, fragrant, and repeats well. Other rugosa roses in this series include Charles Albanel and Jens Munk.
Most of the Explorer roses are classified as shrub types. Champlain is my favorite, although the least hardy. Bred in 1981, its flowers are dark red, semi-double, and fragrant. This famous explorer in the 1600’s of “New France,” now roughly Quebec, has a large lake named after him.
George Vancouver was an Englishman who, in the late 1700’s, explored the coasts of British Columbia and proved there was no Northwest Passage. Most know his name from the large city. This more recent shrub rose, bred in 1994, has good disease resistance. It has medium red flowers that are double and repeat bloom.
Adelaide Hoodless is the only woman honored in this series, and was not actually an explorer. She was a visionary social reformer in Canada during the Victorian period, and established many women’s organizations. The shrub rose by this name was bred in 1973 with medium red, semi-double flowers.
We have the Aztecs to thank for the dahlia, a summer bulb that brightens up the late-season garden.
Dahlias range in color from white and yellow to orange, pale pink, lavender, and red with blooms from half an inch to a foot and a half in size. Flowers may be pompoms or pinwheels with single or double petals that are flat, curved, or rolled into tubes. A long-lasting cut flower, it makes a great addition to any garden.
The dahlia, a relative of the daisy, was first cultivated by Aztec botanists in Mexico. In the early 1500s it was discovered by Spanish explorers who brought this tuberous plant back to Europe.
Interestingly, they had the same problem with storage of the tubers as do many modern-day gardeners. The genus Dahlia gets its name from an 18th-century Swedish botanist, Andreas Dahl.
The dahlia became a favorite in the gardens of working class Europeans after being distained by the upper class as being too flamboyant for their carefully manicured gardens.
However, it gained prominence in the mid-1800s after a devastating blight wiped out the potato crop in France as it was thought to be a good substitute for this starchy vegetable. Unfortunately, it was not, but it soon became popular in gardens both for its flowers and interesting foliage.
Although a perennial plant, in northern climates dahlias are treated as annuals. They are planted in the spring as soon as the soil has warmed up, then lifted and stored in the fall after the first hard frost.
Dahlias do best in a sunny spot with light, fertile, well-drained soil. If you have heavy clay soil, work in a two- to four-inch layer of well-rotted manure or compost a few weeks before planting.
Add fertilizer–about a quarter pound of a balanced fertilizer like 5-10-5 per ten square feet of garden or according to soil test results–incorporating it into the soil well. With a slow release, complete fertilizer no further applications are needed.
Wait until the danger of frost has past before planting the tubers. Plant about four to six inches deep, laying them horizontally on their sides, with roots down and buds facing upward. Cover with two inches of soil, adding more as shoots appear.
Space smaller varieties two to three feet apart, larger ones three to four feet. Larger plants also will require support as they grow. To avoid damage to the roots later on, drive a stake into the ground now, a few inches from where you plan to plant each tuber. As the plants grow, tie the stalks to the stakes.
Most dahlias will bloom in late summer and early fall. Some of the newer and bedding varieties are relatively short, a foot or so high, and generally bloom repeatedly through season. Pinch off spent blooms to encourage continual flowering. Once frost has blackened the foliage, it’s time to dig them up and store until the following spring.
With a sharp knife, cut the stalks at a height of about a foot. Then carefully dig up the clumps, taking care not to injure or spear the tubers. Trim the stalks to a few inches. Shake off the loose dirt and separate the tubers, allowing them to dry for a few days.
Brush off the remaining dirt, then place in a shallow box containing sand and peat moss. Label and store in a dry, cool place. The ideal storage temperature is 40 degrees F.
Throughout the fall and winter check the stored tubers regularly for signs of rot or mold. Spray soft or shriveled tubers with warm water, then let dry before returning to storage. Bruised or rotted tubers will need to be discarded.
If you’ve tried growing roses in our cold northern climate, only to have them die, you may have given up. But don’t, as there are many varieties that are hardy and will survive with little care.
The most common problem in choosing roses is trying to grow all the latest hybrids you see advertised in the glossy magazines and catalogs. Most of these are modern hybrids, and are only marginally hardy in the warmest parts or warm microclimates on your property.
These small areas of warmer temperatures might be in front of a south facing wall or side of a building, or on a south facing slope.
Of the so-called “modern roses” (those developed since what many consider the first hybrid tea rose ‘La France’ in 1867), the ones most commonly seen in garden centers and through mail order include hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras, miniatures, and climbers.
Another five classes of roses are in the “modern” group, of which the shrub and rugosa hybrids are often hardy. Even though these latter ones were first developed in the late 1800s, many selections have been developed since then which are available now.
Of these selections, several series are seen in our area. The Explorers were developed in Ottawa at the Experiment Station and are named after famous Canadian explorers. The Parkland series was developed in western Canada at the Morden Experiment Station and carries names such as Morden Centennial.
The Meidiland series is from France, and usually has “Meidiland” in the name, such as Meidiland Pink. Then there are the David Austin English garden roses, beautiful and fragrant and fairly resistant to diseases, but most in this series are not hardy in most of Vermont.
The 15 or so classes of “old garden roses” mainly were developed prior to 1867. These classes and groupings of old and modern roses may differ slightly with each rosarian (or rose fancier) and reference. Of these, the ones that are most hardy for our area include the albas, gallicas, damasks, and centifolias.
