Kazanlik: the rose you really need to smell

If you look at Kazanlik only in a photo, you miss the best part. Its pink flowers are loosely double, sometimes a little tousled, and look beautiful in a natural garden. But to understand why this rose has been cultivated for so long, you need to put your nose in a flower.

That fragrance. Full, sweet, and unmistakably rose.

At Belle Epoque, we have a soft spot for historic roses like these. Of course, for their flowers, but also for their story. And with Kazanlik, that story takes us from ancient scented oils to the rose fields of Bulgaria.

We’ve wanted to smell good for thousands of years

People have been making scented products for more than four thousand years. In ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, flowers, herbs, and resins were made into scented oils and ointments. They were used to care for the body and played a role in rituals. So perfume has no single birthplace or inventor; different cultures developed their own ways of creating and preserving fragrance.

Those first perfumes were different from the bottles we know today. Fragrant ingredients, for example, were steeped in oil, which was then applied to the skin. Roses were used this way, too. More than three hundred years before our era, the Greek writer Theophrastus described how scented oils were made using ingredients including rose, iris, and cinnamon.

Apparently, even back then, people wanted what we still want when we smell a beautiful rose: to take its scent with us.

From rose flower to perfume

Over the centuries, techniques for capturing the scent of flowers became increasingly sophisticated. By distilling rose flowers with water, people could extract rose water and concentrated rose oil. Damask roses were especially prized for this. Along with the centifolia rose, they remain among the most important roses in the world of perfumery.

Kazanlik is one such Damask rose. You may also find it under the name ‘Trigintipetala’. It is closely connected to the Bulgarian city of Kazanlak and the surrounding Rose Valley, where roses have been grown for their fragrance for generations.

During harvest, the flowers are hand-picked early in the day and processed quickly. A great many flowers are needed to produce a small amount of rose oil. So there is a considerable amount of work behind a bottle of oil: tending the roses, picking the flowers, and distilling the harvest.

And it’s grown on a large scale. In September 2026, more than 5,300 hectares of oil-bearing roses were registered in Bulgaria. That’s more than 53 square kilometers. This figure covers all oil-bearing roses, not just Kazanlik. But it gives you an idea of the importance of rose cultivation there. What is one fragrant shrub in your garden colors entire fields pink over there.

Want to take a closer look? Then watch this lovely video from BBC Reel. You’ll just have to imagine the fragrance for yourself.

Kazanlik in your own garden

Fortunately, you don’t need a rose field to enjoy Kazanlik. Just one shrub may be enough to make you want to step outside again and again while she’s in bloom.

Give her room, though. Kazanlik can grow about two to two and a half meters tall and looks lovely as a loose shrub or in a fragrant hedge. Ideally, choose a spot where you can easily reach the flowers, such as beside a garden path or near a seating area.

Her pink flowers pair beautifully with cranesbill or catmint at her feet. Later-blooming perennials also make good neighbors, because Kazanlik blooms once a year, usually around June. After that, her flowering season is over.

That’s part of growing this old rose. You watch the buds, see the first flowers open, and try to pass by as often as possible while she’s in bloom.

Prune after flowering

Kazanlik blooms on old wood. If you cut her back hard in spring, you’ll also remove some of the flowers to come. So prune her after flowering. Remove weak and damaged branches, and, on an older, dense shrub, occasionally remove an old branch to make room for new growth.

She doesn’t need to be kept neatly shaped. Her loose growth suits her. Give her a sunny spot, fertile soil that drains well, and plenty of water during dry spells, especially in the first year after planting.

At Belle Epoque, we believe these historic roses deserve a place too. Kazanlik brings pink flowers to your garden, but her fragrance is what makes you remember her. And once you know how many generations have tried to capture that scent, you might stop to smell it again.

Discover Kazanlik at Belle Epoque and give her a spot you’ll often pass by.

Image : https://madamebulgaria.com/nl/rose-valley-bulgarije/