Roses.....the
most romantic, intoxication, irresistible and fragrant flowers
for the garden.
Roses
are mysterious and sensual. Their history is read, studied and
memorized by gardeners the world over. Those who make roses
their passion are know as Rosarians.
For
hundreds of years, rosarians have been selecting, crossing and
recrossing native types of roses to create numerous types or
classes. If you want to follow the rose and become an expert
rosarian, you first must learn the language of the rose. then
and only then can you grow into a deeper appreciation and understanding
of the rosarians passionate desire to grow them.
When
you complete reading this section, you may want to join the
American Rose Society. Their address is P. O. Box 30000,
Shreveport, LA. 71130-0030 or phone 318-938-5402
The
Rose (Rosa)
Of
all the flowers on earth, none has been so woven in the hearts
of men and history as the rose. The ancient Greeks dedicated
the rose to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. In Roman
times, it became the flower of Venus. During the Middle Ages,
roses were grown for both beauty and medicinal purposes. Today,
according to poets and balladeers, the rose still stands for
womanly perfection and the mysteries of love.
The 150
species of roses and their countless hybid derivatives, valued
for their beauty and perfume and sometimes for their bright
fruits, have been at the forefront of garden design for of years.
The most popular are the hybrid tea roses, which account for
virtually all of the cut roses sold by florists. These roses
have long, pointed buds that open into beautiful, large, symme-
trical blossoms.
Found over
most of the northern hemishere, though primarily in the temperate
regions, roses are woody stemmed shrubs or scrambling climbers.
Almost all are deciduous, and even those regarded as evergreen
or semi-evergreen often shed much of their foliage during cold
winters. They range from small shrubs under 24 inches tall to
the huge spread climbers that can go for more than 100 feet.
Roses have trifoliate or pinnate leaves with finelt toothed
leaflets. The foliage may be bright green,
very deep, almost black green or
distinctly blue tinted.
Most species
of roses have arching, thorny stems, and both the young stems
and new foliage are often tinted red. The thorns of cultivated
roses are usually broad based and recurved to a fine point.
Some wild species, especially the briars, have a dense covering
of prickles rather than thorns.
Garden roses
often have semi-double flowers, but that is the result of extensive
hybridizing. The species and the less highly developed cultivars
most often have single flowers, usually 5-petalled. Flower color
among the modern hybrids now covers everything except a true
natural blue. The species also have a wide variety of color,
but without the flamboyant combinations seen in hybrids. Clusters
of brilliant orange or red fruits known as hips sometimes follow
the flowers, particulary those of the species or signle flwered
hybrids. These add interest in the late summer and fall and
can be almost as much a feature as the flowers.
ROSE
GLOSSARY
ROSE
TIPS
CULTIVATION
