A Picture of Red Roses

Ah, my love is like a red,

red rose that’s newly sprung in June…

Robert Burns, A Red Red Rose

In matters of the heart, a red rose comes straight to the point. Not surprisingly, a survey among American florists revealed that half of all the roses they sell are red. What other rose comes close to conveying as much romantic intention as a red one does? Interestingly, when woman were asked about whether they liked getting red roses on Valentine’s Day, many said no, that they would prefer other colours for a change. Perhaps the red rose boutique has become a bit too cliché!

True red is actually a rare colour among the early roses; many described as red are more hot pink or magenta. The pure red we associate with the roses of today started with rose breeders in China and continued with the introduction of Chinese roses into Europe. When Redouté painted the pictures of the red roses, ‘Bengal Crimson’, ‘Bengale à Bouquets’ and ‘Cruenta’, they had come from China just a few years previous. Being tender to the cold, they were much coveted specimens kept in greenhouses. When rose breeding with the China Roses began in earnest, they were crossed with the more cold-resistant European rose varieties.

Meaning of Red Roses

If you rearrange the letters of ‘Eros’, the name of the Greek God of Love, you get ‘rose’. Throughout the ages, the rose has intertwined with the mythology of many gods and goddesses, as a symbol of beauty, of life and death, but above all, as a symbol of love. And it is the red rose that today carries the most potent symbolism of love. Hence, in the ‘language of flowers’, a red rose simply means ‘love’. If the red rose is still in bud, it means that the giver admires the receiver’s ‘purity and loveliness’

In addition to love and romance, in earlier times the red rose was often used as a symbol of power, courage and bravery.

Old Love Potion Recipe

A love potion, made of red and white Rose leaves [petals] and Forget-me-nots, boiled in 385 drops of water for the sixteenth part of an hour, will if properly made, insure the love of one of the opposite sex, if three drops of the mixture are put into something the person is to drink.

A.Stoddard Kull, Secrets of Flowers

Click on each red rose picture (at left and below) to find out more about the rose.