Roses, a worldwide symbol of love, most commonly known as red in colour and portrayed globally as the gift to give on Valentine’s Day. Roses are most sought after for their vibrant colours, as mentioned before red being the most popular but roses come in many stunning colours. To bloom into these truly magnificent colours, roses require the utmost care and attention. Not only a variety of colours but roses are actually separated into three groups for their differences. These groups are:
Old Garden Roses – Old Garden roses or colloquially known as just ‘Old Roses’ is the name given to a group of roses that are typically traditional and often used as historic symbols, such as the Alba rose as the White Rose of York. These roses, grown on shrubs and the shrub or bush itself can grow anywhere from 2 to 20ft. They are known for their vibrant white, pink and red colours. Common roses that fall into this category are; alba, damask, gallica and hybrid perpetual.
What’s fascinating about old garden roses is just how early they appear in history and the history and use of different old garden roses, as touched on earlier, is just wonderful.
An old garden rose that is commonly white bordering on light pink and boasts foliage with a hint of grey. Blooming in early summer time, the Alba rose is a cross between the Rosa canina and Rosa damascena and also could have potentially been around up to 1900 years ago, wow.
Wild Roses – Also known as ‘species’ roses, wild roses are a group of roses, known for their early summer blooming, pleasant aroma and the typical thorny stem. These roses are grown as shrubs, the most common of these wild roses are the multiflora and rugosa roses.
Modern Roses – Modern roses are quite difficult to classify as old garden roses are prominent in their ancestry. Some of the most common modern roses are the climbing roses and the hybrid tea roses. Hybrid tea roses are as you may have guessed are actually a hybrid of two roses the, hybrid perpetual and tea roses, they are also known as the the most popular of modern roses. Modern roses are arguably the most popular rose nowadays.
As mentioned at the start, people can often assume there are very few types of roses and they’re just a few colours to be given on special occasions. When in reality roses are just exceptional, the old garden roses with strong links to the historic world, modern roses and the almost endless different hybrids possible by modern cross-breeding of them and wild roses, the pleasant smell or beautiful break in an otherwise unassuming shrub.
What’s so powerful about roses is the simple fact that they can mean so much and so many different things. Simply gifting a different number of red roses can actually mean different things such as; one rose is given to a person you love and can go as far as to signify love at first sight. Fifteen roses is the number given to someone you wish to apologies to, there’s a whole language of roses not many people know about.
