QUEEN OF FLOWERS ENGULFS THE SENSES

This year, because of the unusual weather, the rose-picking in Plovdiv region started a few weeks earlier, but as always with expectations for a fruitful harvest. Over 20 000 decares of rose plantations attracted thousands of diligent workers, eager to participate in the magical ritual. Today, when the campaign is near its end, we gladly discover that the harvest has significantly surpassed the expectations of the growers not only with its amount, but with its quality, as well. The initially extracted rose oil had a yield of 2.9 – 3.0 tons of rose petals for 1 kilogram of oil (much higher than the last year’s, when for the production of a kg of oil 3.8 – 4.0 tons of petals were needed). It turns out that weather conditions this year have been perfect for the roses. The quality of the oil is again superb, so Bulgaria defends its title of the producer of the world’s finest rose oil, universally acknowledged to possess the greatest health and beauty benefits.

Traditionally, the beginning of the rose-picking was marked by magnificent celebrations in two of the most important hubs in the Rose valley – the towns of Karlovo and Kazanlak. The Rose Festival is held annually since the early 20th century, as it is one of the most anticipated events in the region, attracting tens of thousands of Bulgarian and foreign tourists.

Along with the rituals of "rose-picking” and “rose-extraction", the folklore singing and dancing competitions, most interesting and entertaining for the visitors were the carnival procession and the Rose Queen contest, won by the beautiful and talented high school graduate Ioanna Shishkova.

This year’s rich harvest is certainly good news for everyone who relies on the amazing powers of rose oil and the products that contain it to keep themselves young and beautiful. That is way, we were most happy to announce that the Rose valley has been generous and benevolent once again.