From the earliest times, indeed throughout the history of civilization, people from around the world have held the rose close to their hearts. We know now that roses have existed much longer than any of us imagined. Even before human time roses flourished: 35 million year old fossilized rose flowers and hips have been found in Europe and petrified rose wreaths have been unearthed from ancient Egyptian tombs.

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, is said to have created the rose, which arose from her tears and the blood of her lover Adonis. The Romans, turning Aphrodite into their goddess Venus, also adopted the rose: it became the symbol of love and beauty. Cupid, offering a rose when trying to bribe the God of Silence to hush Venus's amorous escapades, made the flower into a symbol for secrecy: Roman dining room ceilings were decorated with roses, reminding guests to keep secret what had been said during dinner. Sub rosa, under the rose, up to this day means "confidentially."

The early Christians saw the five wounds of Christ in the five petals of the Rosa sancta. However, in view of the decadence connected with the Roman rose, the official Christian Church was reluctant to consider the rose a religious symbol. Only after much hesitation was the red rose declared a symbol of the blood of the martyrs. But not only in Christian literature, also in ancient Confucian and Buddhist religious documents we find references to the rose.

MEDICINAL USES

Ancient literature abounds with references to roses used for medicinal, botanical and cosmetic purposes and speaks of their use for feeding the body, the soul and the spirit. Medical texts written on stone tablets mention possibly a wild rambling rose, referred to as arnurdinnu, for medical purposes.

In Persia the much sought after rose oil and oil of attar was made from the heavenly scented damask roses and traded all around the world. The Greeks used rose-scented olive oils for perfume, to keep illness at bay and to anoint their dead. But the Romans outdid the Greeks when Nero, the hedonistic emperor, first century AD, dumped tons of rose petals on his dinner guests, nearly suffocating some.

The apothecary rose, R. gallica officinalis, first recorded in the 13th century, was the foundation of a large industry near the city of Provins, France. Turned into jellies, powders and oils, this rose was believed to cure a multitude of illnesses.

In England, the rose became truly "royal" during the 15th century War of the Roses: The House of York adopted a white rose (R. alba?), the House of Lancaster decided to take a red rose (R. gallica?). The winner of this war, Tudor Henry VII, merged his Lancastrian rose with the red rose of his York bride and thus created the Tudor Rose, the Rose of England.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

Roses have inspired artists through the centuries, their flowers appear in paintings as far back as 2000 BC. For the design of paintings and carpets roses were very important in Persia. A rose resembling Rosa sancta (now R Richardii, similar to our B.C. native R. nutkana) appears in the famous frescos painted on the walls of the cathedral in Ghent, Belgium.

During the 16th centuries Dutch painters popularized the rose in their famous oil paintings. The most famous rose painter of all time is the 19th century Pierre-Joseph Redoute, who commissioned by French Empress Josephine, painted over 170 of her roses. Reproductions of his botanical art can still be found in our mass produced 20th century framed prints.

The ancestors of the roses we know today originated in the wild - from the high mountains of central Europe (as with the Gallicas) to the Northern seacoasts of Japan (as with the Rugosas). Surprisingly, the rose's natural habitat does not include the southern hemisphere. Hardy and disease resistant, these early and vigorous plants can still be grown today (they are particularly good anywhere with less than perfect growing conditions and near vegetable gardens where spraying with fungicides is not desired).

The oldest garden rose is the Rosa gallica officinalis, the apothecary rose. Old garden rose classes include the Albas, Centifolias and Damasks with their heady old rose fragrance. These have been long grown for their beauty and ability to grow in a most carefree manner. That they bloom only in mid-summer, as do their wild relatives, predating the later repeat flowering roses, is of little consequence in comparison with their easy care beauty and fragrance. Already in 35 AD the Roman writer Virgil wrote about the cultivation of roses and he extolled the virtues of "twice -bearing" roses, probably referring to the Autumn Damasks. But it would still be many centuries before the arrival in the West of the first true repeat-flowering roses form China from which the modern hybrid tea roses would be developed! During the Middle Ages the returning Crusaders brought with them roses from the Middle East.

During these so-called Dark Ages ornamental gardening was not a priority with ordinary people: the newly imported roses were kept alive in monastery gardens. The renewed interest in the garden rose came with 19th century Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. This ambitious woman's dream was to establish a rose garden in Malmaison containing a collection of all the roses of the world. Although France was at war with every country in Europe and isolated by blockades, arrangements were made by England and France to bring to Josephine's garden newly discovered roses from China.

These unusual red and yellow roses (most roses up to that time being shades of pink, white and magenta) were then hybridized with the old roses by rose breeders around the world to create the new brightly colored and repeat flowering Tea roses, Hybrid Perpetuals and Hybrid Teas, Noisettes, Floribundas and the colorful modern climbers we know today.

Unfortunately, however, while these newly hybridized roses had beautiful flowers to look at, often the much treasured rose fragrance and general old garden rose healthiness was lost in the breeding programs, being sacrificed for qualities valuable for showing the huge rose flowers. As well, yellow and bright red roses, hybridized from China roses brought from Asia in the late 1800s were often very susceptible to the fungal diseases - black spot and powdery mildew particularly with the conditions of our coastal climate.

NEW HYBRIDIZING BRINGS BACK OLD FRAGRANCES AND FORMS

In the last few decades, however, rose breeders have begun to cross-healthier easy-care roses with fragrant old garden favorites. One such breeder, David Austin of England, each year introduces several new repeat-flowering roses, featuring at least one of the four distinct old rose fragrances and six different old rose flower forms. Other breeders are attempting to create new disease-resistant and brightly colored roses for the environmentally conscious rose lovers who prefer not to have to spray their plants frequently to keep them healthy looking. Agriculture Canada has been hybridizing Rugosas and other roses, which will tolerate some of the very coldest of Canadian climates.

And so it goes on, through the ages, from relatively few "species" of wild roses from all around the world we now have literally thousands of varieties, with new ones being introduced each year. There are now roses suitable for every taste, for all levels of gardening skill and for every landscape situation and soil, light or climactic condition.

There are so many roses and books about roses that the beginning rose grower can easily become boggled by it all! But researching the development of the rose and searching for varieties which suit one's own needs and tastes is an exciting and ever more popular passion. Remembering the old-fashioned roses from the gardens of their childhood, many people try to recreate those memories by seeking out those same roses and rich fragrances to plant in their own gardens.