My imagination can virtually run wild when it comes to roses. I would plant every rose available if I could afford it. They simply move me more than any other flower, the colors, the fragrance and the look. The rose to me is the most perfect flower.
Roses have a long colorful history and have been symbols of love, beauty, war and politics. Fossils of the rose have been found around the world, dating back 35 million years. Greek Mythology tells us Aphrodite gave the rose its' name and the goddess of flowers, Chloris created it. There are frescoes dated 1700BC, which illustrate a rose with 5 petals and pink blooms. Discoveries made in Egyptian tombs revealed wreaths of flowers including roses.
Garden cultivation of roses began some 5000 years ago, probably in China. Roses were grown in the Middle East during the Roman Empire. The Romans and Greeks worshiped this aromatic flower. They were known for throwing rose petals all over their floors for special events.
Some believe the early tea rose got it's name from the early tea clippers that transported tea from India and others believe it got it's name from the scent of the rose. The Damask rose got it's name from the ancient city of Damascus. The Persians were the first to find a way of extracting the pure rose oil from the Damask rose. Rose oil is still the key element in toiletries around the world.
The Crusaders brought back many species of roses to Europe from the East. The rose form has also been used as a heraldic emblem. For instance, the red rose was used as the symbol for the House of Lancaster and the white rose used for the House of York . This was the War of the Roses, 1455 to 1487.
In the 17th century, roses were in such high demand, that the rose and rose water were used as legal tender. Napoleon's wife Josephine established an extensive collection at Chateau de Malmaison. The garden contained more than 250 species. Botanical illustrator, Pierre Jospeh Redoute completed his water color collection, "Les Rose" in this garden. It is still considered the best botanical illustrations.
Cultivar roses were introduced into Europe from China in the late 18th Century. Most modern roses can be traced back to this ancestry. This was the beginning of repeat blooming roses and made them important to hybridizers setting the stage for breeding work with native roses for hardiness and longer blooming seasons.
The rose also has been used as a religious symbol. The Catholic rosary was originally a string of dried roses. The white rose is associated with the Virgin Mary and the red rose represents the blood of Christ.
Today, the rose count is over 30,000 varieties and remains among the all-time favorites in the garden.
Are roses important to you? Do you love seeing them in your garden or in a vase?
Hope this day is wonderful for you. Go out and take some time to smell the roses. It will make you smile. Time to go and weed the garden and get my hands dirty.
Till the next post. Have a good one.
Ro
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Lovely thoughts RoseMary. I love roses as well. I going to smell some right now for me and you.
ReplyDeleteSteve
What a great little essay on the history of roses! Thank you, I really enjoyed that. Is that last photo a Color Magic?
ReplyDeleteWOW! I love roses so much...this year, my dear husband planted them all over the yard (we have lots of sun) and I SO enjoyed bringing cuttings inside...and going outside to sniff them all. He is a beginning gardener and so proud of all of his plantings...there is one red rose particularly that smells so amazing, I want to keep it under my nose all day!
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this post...thank you for writing it!
What a cool history! I love roses, but we get so much rain here they tend to get a lot of mildew so to keep them nice you have to spray a lot. So I just have a couple bushes of red ones. But I love knowing botanical history and lore. :)
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