Valentine's Day and roses go hand in hand. The fragrance of roses is one of the joys of the English summer garden, but, does the wonderful perfume remain constant and the same throughout the day?

The simple answer is no. The fragrance changes depending on the flowers age, time of day and, if cut and displayed in a vase, how long it has been in that vase.

Tom Stimpson of Woolmans said: “Roses offer us a tremendous variety of scents and all varieties have their own and unique fragrance, but it’s fascinating to discover how the scent changes and evolves throughout the day.

“Our rose breeder, over many years, has found that in the morning it is the strong and heady citrus notes of the fragrance which we can smell first, which in turn gives way to the more spicier and floral scents later in the day – the ones we adore on a warm and sunny afternoon. Lastly, it is the lower and heavier components, notes of wood and balsam, which come to the fore, the perfume's base.”

Woolmans has been trialling numerous rose cultivars over the last few years and has selected five varieties to introduce this spring chosen for their exquisite perfumes and colours.

Mr Stimpson said: “All five of these are superb and the change in fragrance through the day is quite incredible – I didn’t realise a roses perfume could be so complex.”

Woolmans has also been very impressed by the excellent disease resistance each cultivar has shown, with no sign of blackspot or mildew.

One of the new cultivars is called 'Amnesty International' and one Euro from the sale of each plant goes to the non-governmental charity focused on human rights of the same name.