Why Roses Have Captured Our Hearts: History, Meaning, and Care Guide

Have you ever wondered why roses are so universally adored? It turns out that roses have come by their reputation honestly; plants of the genus Rosa grow in countries all over the Northern hemisphere, dazzling everyone who lays eyes on them. Wherever a rose has grown, mythology has popped up around it.

Roses have represented beauty and love in ancient Greek, Roman, Chinese, Hindu, and Arabic cultures. Victorians carried this tradition forward, and to this day, the lovely rose has never lost its romantic reputation. But if we dive deeper into this classic flower, we’ll see that roses have a language all their own—and meanings as personal as your most treasured heirloom.

The Language of Roses: What Each Color Symbolizes

Today, there are over 150 species of roses and over 5000 cultivars! With no shortage of options to choose from, the color of the flowers is what sends the strongest message. Here’s how to decode the meaning of your bouquet!

• White: Purity, innocence
• Ivory: Thoughtfulness, gracefulness, compassion
• Yellow: Friendship, happiness, affection, remembrance
• Peach: Gratitude, sincerity, genuineness, sympathy
• Orange: Energy, fascination, pride
• Red: Beauty, love, desire, passion
• Pink: Femininity, sweetness, elegance
• Purple: Mystery, enchantment, splendor
• Green: Rejuvenation, fertility, abundance, harmony
• Blue: Individuality, ambition, exceptional
• Black: New beginnings, major changes or shifts, hope, courage
• MultiColored: Depending on the colors of the petals, the rose may symbolize a combination of the above meanings or something unique to you!

Decided on a color but can’t settle on a variety? Read our list of Roger’s Recommends: 2021 Roses!

Your Guide to Growing Roses in Orange County

If you haven’t tried growing your own roses before, you’re missing out! Their abundant blooms make them some of the most rewarding ornamentals to grow. Watch along with our rosarian, Laura, or follow these simple steps.

Planting

• Locate a sunny spot that gets at least 5 hours of direct sunlight per day.
• Dig a hole a little larger than the rose container.
• Remove the rose’s root ball from the container by gently coaxing it out.
• Backfill the hole with native soil and compost, keeping the soil line below the graft.
• Fertilize by scattering granular fertilizer like Down to Earth Rose & Flower mix around the root area (not too close to the base!).
• Water thoroughly.

Types of Roses

Before you can start growing roses, you’ll need to choose from an enormous selection of cultivars! By understanding the different classes of rose bushes for sale at Roger’s Gardens, you’ll have a much easier time making your final picks.

• Climbing Roses: While these roses don’t climb in the same way that a vine does, their canes grow very long and can be manually trained onto supports like trellises and pergolas.

• David Austin/English Roses: These roses are bred to have an old-fashioned flower shape, but a wider color range than older rose varieties.

• Floribunda Roses: Bred by crossing Hybrid Tea roses with a class known as Polyanthas, Floribunda roses bloom multiple flowers to a stem on sturdy, stocky shrubs.

• Grandiflora Roses: A cross between Hybrid Tea and Floribunda roses, these roses have large, eye-catching flowers on long, upright, sturdy stems. They typically bloom one to three flowers per stem.

• Groundcover Roses: A class of low-growing roses with very bushy shrubbery, normally averaging between 1-3 feet in height. Sometimes called “landscape roses,” these roses are very low-maintenance.

• Hybrid Tea Roses: One of the higher-maintenance varieties, Hybrid Tea roses are also among the most beautiful. Their exquisite, well-formed flowers, range of colors, and upright stems make them excellent cut flowers.

• Miniature Roses: Just as you’d expect, these roses are bred for their teeny-tiny scale! A smaller version of Hybrid Tea roses, they make adorable plants for containers.

• Rugosa Roses: A very hardy, but wilder-looking rose. The form of their flowers is much closer to that of a wild rose than the double-blooming roses we’re most familiar with.

• Shrub Roses: This is a fairly broad category of hybrids that have been bred from older and more modern rose varieties. They generally grow on shrubby, low-maintenance plants, but the flower shapes and colors vary significantly.

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