Rose Cuttings: April 2015
Photo courtesy of the Antique Rose Emporium.
Fragrance
“The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose,” suggested the Spanish actress Hada Béjar years ago. It’s a lovely thought for those who share their roses.
Unfortunately, many modern roses have no aroma. What a tragedy to receive a beautiful rose with no scent; you might as well be viewing a picture in a book. Fragrance elevates a rose from a visual experience to an emotional one, often evoking memories.
Gardens full of perfume can also create new memories. While a garden with beautiful flowers in a multitude of colors is certainly eye candy, its soul lies in the emotion stirred by their fragrances. All of us have revisited a past moment with the whiff of a specific fragrance — someone’s perfume or cologne, for instance, or a freshly baked apple pie or even freshly mown grass. Sensory reveries can suggest the changing of seasons, a romance or just a seemingly simpler time in your life.
Rose Fragrance Examples
Cramoisi Supérieur – Pepper with a touch of fruit
Duchesse de Brabant – Hints of raspberries
Independence Musk – Sweet, musky, sultry
Chrysler Imperial – Floral Lemon Pledge
Paul Neyron – Damask perfume
Maggie – Woody, thick and manly
White Lady Banks – Violets
Eglanteria (foliage) – Green apples
Archduke Charles – Banana cream pie
Remember that when you give someone a rose as a gift, you should select for fragrance as well as beauty. As Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote, “It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves.”
The Antique Rose Emporium invites you to a fragrance gallery on April 11, containing more than 100 roses to enjoy and smell.