Characteristics and Features

• A flowering rose bush growing on a backyard arbor.
  
  Roses are flowering perennial shrubs native to the Northern Hemisphere, especially Asia and Europe. They have serrated, oval-shaped leaves and stems that are usually covered in thorns, more correctly called prickles. The flowers of most roses have five petals, and these come in a wide variety of colors. The flowers range from heavily scented to unscented, depending on the breed. Some roses produce hips, a fruit that is usually red or reddish-orange in color, but can be dark purple or even black. Roses range in size from miniatures that grow to about a foot in height to climbers that can be well over six feet tall.
  
  

History of Cultivation

• Pruned rose bushes in a recreation of a typical Roman garden at the Getty Villa in Malibu, CA.
  
  Roses have a very long history as cultivated plants. They were probably domesticated around 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia and China. The ancestor of European roses is most probably Rosa gallica, also known as the "Apothecary's Rose" for its use in the making of rose oil and medicinal preparations. The ancient Romans were enthusiastic gardeners and grew roses in their formal gardens. Roses were so popular among the Romans, in fact, that many Roman peasants thought it was more profitable to grow roses for sale than it was to grow grain, a mistaken idea that may have led to grain shortages. It was probably the Romans who introduced the Rosa alba, a white variant of Rosa gallica, to Britain.
  
  Roses continued to be popular throughout the Middle Ages, both as decorative flowers and as a source of perfume and medicine. Returning crusaders brought back Damask roses from the Middle East. These were the first roses in Europe to flower twice every summer, which led to their immediate popularity. Though there were two species indigenous to North America, European roses were brought over by the Pilgrims. Crosses between European and native American roses would become popular in the United States. At the beginning of the 19th century, roses began to be imported to Europe from China. These species are still known as tea roses, probably because they were first brought to Europe by tea merchants. Also in the 19th century, the process of hybridization was discovered; until then, rose hybrids were the result of natural crosses or mutations, but the new process allowed for the deliberate creation of new species. There are now several types of rose and thousands of breeds.
  
  

Types

• The famous poem says that a "rose is a rose is a rose is a rose," but that isn't quite true. There are in fact many different types of rose, from miniatures to climbers and from heavily-scented to scent-free varieties. Broadly, roses are divided into two categories, climbing and non-climbing. These categories, in turn, are divided into recurrent-flowering and non-recurrent flowering. Beyond that, there are categories such as floribunda, which have clustered flowers; hybrid teas, which have very large flowers; climbers; ramblers; patio roses; bush roses; ground-cover roses; shrub roses; and miniatures. Each breed also has its own specific name. Rose breeds are often named after a person or a place. It is worth noting that while roses have traditionally been valued for their unique scent, only a few modern varieties actually smell. Older types, such as damasks and gallicas, do usually smell quite strongly, but most modern breeds have been bred for color and size rather than scent.
  
  

Growing and Care

• Care of roses will vary a bit depending on the type of rose in question, but all roses need a few basic things in common. Like all domestic plants, they need to be watered regularly and nourished with fertilizers, manures or special food. They also benefit greatly from "deadheading," the removal of dead or dying flowers. Deadheading allows the rose bush to expend its energy on growing new flowers rather than maintaining old ones that are past their prime. Roses also need to be pruned, especially in the winter, when they should be cut back significantly. Pruning methods vary with each type of rose. Roses are hardy plants and will generally bounce back from neglect or disease, if these are not allowed to progress too far. However, roses are susceptible to certain diseases and pests. The most significant of these are blackspot, rust, mildew and aphids. Any of these may be fatal to a rose bush, but they are fairly easy to recognize and treat. With the great variety of roses available today, gardeners can plant roses just about anywhere, from large beds to small pots. Depending on their breed, roses can be used as ground cover, trained to grow up trellises, shaped into trees, or placed in window boxes. There is a rose for just about every need and every place.
  
  

Symbolism and Cultural Significance

• The rose has found its way into popular imagination and symbology. The ancient Romans used the rose as a symbol of the love goddess Aphrodite, and used to place a rose above the door of a room where secret assignations were to be held, a custom which led to the coining of the phrase "sub rosa," meaning "in secret." Medieval Europeans transferred the rose to the Virgin Mary, and it has been her symbol since the 5th century. The rival English houses of York and Lancaster each had a rose as their symbol, white and red, respectively. These symbols were to give their name to the Wars of the Roses. The Scottish Jacobites of the 17th and 18th centuries used a white rose as their symbol. Roses have been used as imagery in art and literature for thousands of years, typified by Gertrude Stein's above-quoted line and Shakespeare's "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." The Victorians developed an elaborate language of flowers, in which roses of different colors were assigned different meanings. Red roses, for example, represented passionate love, pink roses were for affection and yellow roses meant friendship. Even now, roses, as bouquets or singly, are symbolic of romance. Rose hybrids today are often named after famous people, particulary women; a hybrid rose breed has been created for and named after each American First Lady, and there is a Princess Diana rose as well.
  
  

Popularity

• Roses are now the most widely grown garden flower and the most popular choice for bouquets worldwide. They are now grown on every inhabited continent and have inspired the creation of rose clubs and societies. With the wide variety available today, and given the hold this flower has on the human vocabulary and imagination, the rose is certain to retain its mass popularity for many centuries to come.