The first week of June means it’s Rose Festival time in the Kazanlak Valley of Bulgaria (centering on June 5, 2011).

Road Trips Gardeners used to North American roses may have forgotten that roses originally were grown for their scent.

Not here. This region is the center of rose oil extraction in Bulgaria, and the festival celebrates both the beauty and fragrance of the flower.

It’s timed for the season when roses are blooming in the Kazanlak Valley, and the air is redolent with their scent. Most years, rose-picking takes place from May 20 to June 20 in the region of Stara Zagora Province between between Stara Planina and Sredna Gora Mountains. The Rose Museum in the town of Kazanlak includes a traditional rose-distillery. Demonstrations of how rose oil is produced are held in May and June.

For information on traveling to Bulgaria, go online.

(Photo of a flower at the Rose Museum by Dima Bilan)