The rose harvest season has started in the Bulgarian town of Kazanlak, where the traditional hand-picking of the oil-bearing Damascena rose continues largely unchanged over the centuries. This delicate flower, weighing only about two grams, is carefully collected by hand before dawn. This year, however, the start of the picking was delayed by roughly two days due to the late arrival of favorable weather.

Rose growers are now facing a significant challenge, BNT reports. Petar Simeonov, a local producer, explained that the early April frosts severely damaged the rose bushes, causing the buds to wither instead of blooming. This problem is spreading across the Rose Valley, with many growers reporting the same issue. Some even began harvesting 10 to 12 days ago, but the damage is widespread. The affected buds dry out on the bushes and do not develop the pink hue typical of healthy blooms; instead, they turn bright red and fail to mature.

As a result, the yield of usable rose petals has dropped sharply, with growers anticipating substantial losses this season. Despite two days of harvesting underway, the output remains low, compounded by persistently cold weather. Growers hope for warmer days ahead to salvage what remains undamaged by the frost.

Rose pickers typically earn between 50 and 60 leva (25 and 30 euros) for gathering 30 to 50 kilograms of blossoms during early morning hours, from 5:30 to 10:30 a.m. Simeonov noted that the work is not particularly difficult and invited people to visit the rose gardens, especially on weekends, to experience the traditional picking firsthand. Growers throughout the valley have made their contacts available for visitors interested in learning about the process.

Contracts signed by the end of April set the purchase price of rose flowers at 3.80 to 4 leva per kilogram, a rate maintained for the third consecutive year. However, costs for labor and manual work have increased by 20 to 30 percent, and the price of nitrogen fertilizers jumped 50 percent since the start of the year. These rising expenses, combined with the frost damage, paint a grim picture for many rose growers struggling to balance their budgets this season, according to Simeonov.