Roses are arguably the most beautiful and meaningful of flowers of all. Here are some interesting facts that might surprise you.
If your bunch of roses has open flowers this symbolises love that's already blossomed, whereas tightly closed buds represent undeclared emotion.
The Tudor Rose was the first British brand. Henry VII plastered this rose on every possible surface to encourage loyalty to the new Lancastrian kings.
February is the perfect time to cut back roses in the garden, even though this may test your love for them! At the coldest, darkest time of the year you'll have to go outside and snip away at their thorny stems.
It takes 5,000 pounds of fresh rose petals to make just one pound of rose oil. Not surprisingly, it's one of the most expensive and precious essential oils.
Roses are very prone to diseases, such as black spot, grey mould, sooty mould and rust. These can all be treated but the best way to avoid them is to make sure your roses are well fed and watered.
In the Middle Ages, a rose hung above a meeting place would pledge all those attending to secrecy. This is where we get the expression 'sub rosa' – meaning held in secret.
The association of roses with love goes back to Aphrodite, the mythological Ancient Greek goddess of love. She's often portrayed with roses around her head and feet, which according to legend sprang from the crimson blood of her dead lover Adonis!
Never plant a new rose where an old rose has just been dug up. This can lead to replant disease, something to which roses are particularly susceptible.
Be mindful of the colour of a gift of roses. While red means love, white signifies purity and yellow indicates a decidedly tepid friendship.
There are more than a hundred different species of rose and thousands of varieties cultivated from these species.
The oldest living rose bush is in Germany. It's thought to date from 815 AD. An Allied bomb destroyed the top growth during World War II and it's quite possible that this very severe pruning has extended the plant's life.
There's an easy way to tell if your rose is a shrub or a climber – look at the thorns. On climbers they point backwards because they act as grappling hooks to get the plant upwards.
It was the French, not the English, who first fell in love with rose gardens. Empress Josephine planted one of the first, at the end of the 1700s, with more than 250 varieties.
The roses we send on Valentines Day are very likely to have come from some very far flung places. They're imported from Chile, Columbia, India, Kenya and South Africa.
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