Lavender & Rose, Grown Close to Home
Some of our other fragrances are limited editions, tied to season, availability, and the character of the raw material itself. That philosophy guides Old California Botanicals’ Lavender and Rose fragrances—small-batch releases rooted in California-grown botanicals and meant to capture the peak of the season--the cream of the California crop.
These are not generic florals. They are place-specific interpretations, created with restraint and respect for the plants they come from.
Why Limited Editions Matter in Fragrance
In fine fragrance, scarcity is often manufactured, despite the presence of subsidies in many of the European countries producing natural oils, and of course modern mass perfumery depends ever-more on synthetics for uniformity and constant availability. In agricultural fragrance, scarcity is real.
Lavender and rose are both deeply affected by:
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Climate and weather
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Harvest timing
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Oil yield and quality
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Regional growing conditions
Rather than forcing consistency year after year, limited editions allow a fragrance to reflect what the land actually produces. When the harvest is exceptional, the fragrance is made. When it isn’t, it waits.
That’s how agriculture works—and how these fragrances are treated.
Lavender: Clean, Calm, and Grown in California
Lavender is one of the most misunderstood florals in perfumery. Too often it’s sharp, medicinal, or overpowering.
That usually comes down to quality and sourcing.
Old California Botanicals’ Lavender fragrance is built using 100% California lavender essential oil, grown in Ventura and San Luis Obispo Counties, chosen for its clarity, balance, and softness. California-grown lavender tends to produce an oil that is:
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Smooth rather than camphorous
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Floral rather than harsh
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Calm without feeling sleepy
This lavender reads as clean and luminous, not herbal or abrasive. It wears easily and feels modern—closer to fresh air and warm sun than linen spray.
Rose: Floral, Not Powdery
Rose has a long history in fragrance, but many modern interpretations lean heavy, powdery, or overly romanticized.
This rose is treated differently.
The goal is a nimble blend with depth, sophistication, color—a rose that feels fresh, present, and grounded. When handled with restraint, rose becomes:
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Floral without sweetness or powder
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Expressive, rich, and subtly spicy without excess
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Elegant without nostalgia
In limited-edition form, rose can stay true to its natural character instead of being pushed into caricature. Our oil is sourced from our Southern California-based artisan distiller.
California as a Fragrance Landscape
California is often discussed in terms of a place with wonderful weather, but this miraculous atlas climate produces horticulture and produce of exceptional quality and variety, like lavender and roses—thanks to long growing seasons, strong sun, and diverse microclimates. The Rose Parade of Pasadena was not about the weather--it was about a climate so wonderful that it produced a wonderous array of botanicals even when the rest of the country was in the throes of winter. Pasadena was not the first to have a botanically-based parade of this kind, but it is the longest continuously running and certainly the largest botanical parade of its kind in the US, evidence of the importance of horticulture to California's culture as compared to other parts of the country and world.
Plants grown here tend to develop clarity and aromatic intensity without heaviness. That quality carries through into essential oils and fragrance blends.
Just as with orange blossom, these florals reflect:
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Structure and balance
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Freshness richness and longevity without being heavy
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Balance rather than sweetness
They feel appropriate in every season, and they wear close to the skin.
Fragrance as an Agricultural Product
Lavender and rose are not abstract notes. They are crops.
Their scent is shaped by:
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Soil
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Sun
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Water
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Stress
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Harvest decisions
Treating fragrance as an agricultural product—rather than a purely cosmetic one—means allowing variation, seasonality, and limitation.
That’s why these fragrances are released in small batches, and why they remain limited.
A Complement to Orange Blossom
While Orange Blossom captures the brightness of citrus in bloom, Lavender and Rose offer quieter expressions of California’s floral landscape.
They are designed to:
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Complement, not compete
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Offer alternatives without departing from the brand’s core identity
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Provide floral options that remain light, balanced, and wearable
Together, they form a restrained floral collection—each grounded in real plants, real places, and real seasons.
Made When the Land Allows
These fragrances exist because the materials do.
When California lavender oil meets the standard, it’s used. When rose expresses itself clearly, it’s captured. When it doesn’t, the fragrance waits.
That’s the difference between a floral fragrance designed in a lab—and one shaped by land.
Some fragrances are permanent fixtures.
Others are moments.
Lavender and Rose are meant to be experienced that way.
