Learn about these timeless beauties , including the substance of their colors .

Most people associateroseswith lovemaking , but these beautiful blooms are more than a Valentine ’s Day staple . Roses come in a sensational raiment of shape , sizes , and shades , making them a genuinely various peak and a favourite in garden worldwide . More than 150 types of rosesgrow as shrubby plants , climbers , and groundcover , so you may in all probability find infinite somewhere forroses in your garden(just do n’t blank out to stop and smell out them ) . These surprising facts about roses might give you a reinvigorated perspective on this Graeco-Roman flower .

1. Roses Are One of the Oldest Flowers

No wonder roses have been referenced in literature and music for hundred . archaeologist have chance on rose fogy dating back 35 million years . An even more awing fact about roses is that the oldest populate rosiness is 1,000 years old . This imposingly run rose grows on a bulwark of the Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany .

2. You Can Eat Roses

exhibit in a vaseisn’t the only way to use rose in the kitchen . Their petals are edible , and rose water ( made from soaking the flower petal in water ) is often added to jellies or jams or is used as flavoring in Amerindic and Chinese dishes . Roses also grow a Charles Edward Berry - shapedfruit promise blush wine hips . The fruit can be orange , red , dark purple , or black . Rose hips are packed with vitamin C andcan be used in cocktailsor dried to make a refreshing tea leaf .

Never eat petals from a stock florist rose because the pesticide unremarkably used by florists are not approved for use on food .

3. Their Fragrance Is Used in Perfumes

You get it on the saying : lay off and smell the blush wine . Well , rose were n’t chosen for this set phrase by chance ; their adorable aroma is a popular floral scent in many perfumes . Specifically , rose oil has been an indispensable ingredient in the perfume industry for centuries . Extracting mount oil from flowers requires a massive amount of roses ; two thousand roses acquire just one g of oil .

4. Each Rose Color Has a Different Meaning

If you are n’t cracking on the definitive red rise that come along in movies andValentine ’s Day cards , you ’re in luck ; there are many beautiful colors of roses , all with specific significance . Besides red roses typify beloved and Romance language , pinkish roses exude grace of God and elegance . Vibrant yellowroses represent friendship and cheer . On a more somber note , lily-white roses intend sympathy , which is why you might often see them at funeral . However , blanched roses can also represent whiteness , spirituality , and innocence . Offer orange roses for your next congratulatory bouquet ( possibly for a graduate or new hire ) . They play enthusiasm .

5. The Rose Is the U.S. National Flower

You probably could name the U.S. national bird ( clue : it ’s on the back of the quarter ) , but you might not be intimate the home peak is the rose . In 1986 , President Ronald Reagan declared the rose the national blossom allegory of the United States . He did so while standing in the famous White House Rose Garden . Various varieties of rosebush are also the United States Department of State flowers of Georgia , Iowa , New York , North Dakota , and Washington , D.C.

6. Roses Are Named to Honor People

A fun fact about rosiness is that they ’re named to lionise politician , celebrities , and other fabled mass as a protection to their donation to society . The Elizabeth Taylor lift is a brilliant pinkhybrid Camellia sinensis rose , while Barbra Streisand ’s go up , which she was very particular about , is a lavender bloom with a brilliant , citrusy scent . Julia Child ’s stand up is , appropriately , abutter - yellowed colorwith a liquorice - distort aroma . First Lady Laura Bush selected an orange - cinnamon - hue rose because it reminded her of a Texas sunset . Even Elvis Presley has a rose named for him — an orangish - pink intercrossed afternoon tea rose .

Add the Beauty of Roses . University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Extension

The Thousand - Year Rose . Atlas Obscura

blooming light pink ‘cecile brunner’ roses

‘Cecile Brunner’ is a variety of climbing rose that produces light pink blooms.Credit: Richard Baer

Rose Oil and Rose Water . P. Allen Smith

The Rose . State Symbols USA .