To a person who has only smelled roses from a florist, they may wonder why they have such a fragrant reputation; roses from a florist smell like any other flower from a florist—vaguely floral. But if one stops to smell a wild rose, it’s a completely different experience; the scent is everything a rose should be. The flowers may be simpler than that of a florist, ephemeral, and prickly-stemmed, but that fragrance . . . There’s little that can compare.

Wild Roses are the state flowers of North Dakota and Iowa, as well as the provincial flower of Alberta (albeit varying species of wild rose).