Plunge into world of fragrant roses
By Laman Ismayilova
In a three-day exhibition Central Botanical Garden of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) will turn to a heaven of fragrant roses.
The exhibition of roses to be held on May 29-31 will feature both local and imported varieties of roses from a number of countries.
The main purpose of the exhibition is to promote botanical science in Azerbaijan, to demonstrate achievements in this.
The event will be held in Azerbaijan for the second time. The first expo was held three years ago. More than 350 roses were demonstrated at the exhibition in 2015.
Rose, beautiful queen of flowers is best known for its lovely appearances symbolizing love. Praised by the greatest poets of both East and West as Nizami Ganjavi and William Shakespeare, this flower has played an important role in myth, history, and poetry from ancient times to the present.
The petals and rose hips are edible and are used in medicine.
Over the past two years, the areas of rose cultivation have increased in different regions of Azerbaijan, especially in Zagatala and Balakan.
The Rose Lubricant Production Plant of AzRose LLC is under construction in the down-town Tala village. The company's products expected to be exported to the world market soon. In the future, the production of essential oils of other plant species will also be possible.
There was a time when Azerbaijan could have locally sourced its own flowers. During the Soviet era, the republic was a major flower producer and the leading supplier of flowers to Russia.
Today, though, Azerbaijan’s floriculture industry has shrunk to a fraction of its former size. The country’s main export markets are Georgia and Russia, and in 2016 it earned a mere $13,700 on the export of 42,000 cut roses to Georgia, and $13,400 on the export of 268,000 carnations to Russia.
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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova
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