Discover These Timeless Florals—Including What Their Colors Symbolize
While roses are best known as symbols of love, there is much more to the fabled flowers than bouquets on Valentine’s Day. With their stunning range of shapes, sizes, and hues, roses are among the globe’s most diverse and coveted flowers. There are more than 150 species, from shrub roses that grow upright to climbing types and groundcover roses, so there’s nearly always space to plant one in your garden. These interesting rose facts may increase your appreciation for this timeless flower.
1. Roses Are One of the Oldest Flowers on Earth
No surprise that roses have appeared in poetry, song, and art throughout the centuries. Rose plant fossils existed over 35 million years ago. Even more amazing, the oldest rose in the world lives over 1,000 years. This rose is cultivated on the exterior wall of Germany’s Hildesheim Cathedral and blooms continuously for around 1,000 years.
2. Roses Are Edible
Roses need not be used only in the vase—there is an application in the kitchen as well. Their petals are palatable and used to make rose water, which gives jellies, jams, and the traditional Indian or Chinese meal floral flavor. Roses also bear rose hips—small, round fruits ranging from orange and red to dark purple or black. Rose hips are rich in vitamin C and can be used to make teas or added to drinks.
Note: Always stay away from flowers bought from a florist as they’re typically treated with chemicals that aren’t safe to eat.
3. Their Scent Is a Key Ingredient in Perfumes
The phrase « stop and smell the roses » isn’t just a figure of speech—it encloses the aroma that is the flower’s calling card. Rose oil has been a very prized perfume ingredient for many years. But it’s expensive to make: it takes up to 2,000 rose flowers to yield only a single gram of rose oil, so it’s valuable and expensive.
4. Each Rose Color Has a Special Meaning
Not all roses are the same, as every color has meaning. Red roses symbolize love and passion, pink roses symbolize admiration and beauty. Yellow roses are happy and welcoming, perfect to brighten up someone’s day. White roses symbolize sympathy but can symbolize innocence and purity as well. Orange roses are bold and energetic and are a great gift for milestones and celebrations.
5. The Rose Is America’s National Flower
You might know the bald eagle is our national bird, but you might not know the rose is officially the United States’ flower. President Ronald Reagan so declared it in 1986 at a White House Rose Garden ceremony. Roses are also official flowers of several states, such as Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Dakota, and Washington, D.C.
6. Roses Are Often Named After Famous People
Roses also celebrate love—legacies are commemorated. Most roses are named for figures of culture, leaders, and celebrities. There is an Elizabeth Taylor rose, a light pink hybrid tea rose. Barbra Streisand is remembered in a lavender-scented rose with a zesty citrus fragrance. Julia Child’s rose is golden yellow with a subtle licorice fragrance. Laura Bush chose a cinnamon-orange rose, which was like Texas sunsets, and yes—Elvis Presley also has one, a warm orange-pink hybrid tea rose.
