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.