A Brief History of Roses – Along with Some Surprising Fun Facts

"In the late 1700s, botanists discovered everblooming roses growing in the gardens of the sub-tropics in China.
Because of their tea-like fragrance, they became known as Tea Roses. "

March 1, 1979

On this day, The Call-Leader out of Elwood, Indiana, published an article called The Roots Of Roses Go Back Many Years.

If you were to trace the ancestry of today's rose, you'd have enough "begats" to fill a book, maybe two!

In fact, a fossilized rose found at Crooked River, Oregon, some years ago established that this particular species grew on our continent 35 million years ago.

And some paleobotanists believe the rose dates back to the Cretaceous Age 70 million years ago.

This would make the rose older than any known civilization ... and a forerunner of the Garden of Eden.

Since 1979 has been designated "The Year of the Rose," perhaps a little rose history is in order...

Briefly, all of our roses came from species.

Cross-species gave us a new hybrid type of rose...

In the late 1700s, botanists discovered everblooming roses growing in the gardens of the sub-tropics in China. Because of their tea-like fragrance, they became known as Tea Roses.

When these tea roses were crossed with descendants of the gallica, the first result was the bourbon.

Now for some interesting facts about roses:

Did you know no rose species are native to any land areas south of the equator?

Did you know the name Rose appears in no fewer than 4,000 published songs?

Did you know the rose is the official state flower of New York, Iowa, Georgia, and North Dakota?

Did you know that in all polls ever taken to determine the most popular flower, the rose is the overwhelming favorite?

Did you know the rose has been sniffed by royalty for centuries?

We owe much to Empress Josephine of France for our modern-day roses…

[It was Josephine who] assembled the leading hybridizers of her time and sponsored their experiments to develop new strains and varieties.