Roses- Part 2
Every month has a specific flower assigned to it – it’s ‘birth month flower’. The flower for the month of June is the rose.
This is part two of “Getting to Know Roses”. Part 1 looked at how roses get their names and their meanings in the language of flowers. Now we’re going to compare ‘standard’ roses to ‘garden’ roses, and I’ll share tips and tricks on how to buy and care for them.
When buying roses as a cut flower, there is a world of difference between ‘standard’ roses and ‘garden’ roses.
Standard roses: Standard roses are probably what you will find when you go to buy flowers at the grocery store, corner shop and even your local florist. They have one stem per bloom and their petals are almost a pointed shape that rotate around a tight center. They don’t open up a great amount and they likely have no – or very little – fragrance, but they do come in a wide range of colours.
Most rose farms in the world grow standard roses because they’re able to get many blooms per acre planted. These types of roses are a staple in any florists cooler as they have a long vase life (up to two weeks) and are reasonably priced.
Garden roses: Garden roses are what you imagine when you think of a traditional rose. They have dense layers of petals around a rosette center and waft an unbelievably nostalgic fragrance. Their beauty is undeniable and their romantic nature makes them a very popular choice for weddings and events. There are fewer farms that grow garden roses, and those plants tend to be less productive, yielding blooms that only have a 5-7 day vase life. The difficulty in producing this delicate bloom, combined with the high demand for them, makes them more expensive than standard roses.
Buying and caring for roses:
There are an endless variety of roses. They make wonderful gifts, are perfect decoration for a special occasion and enhance the beauty of any surrounding.
When you’re going to purchase some roses – either standard or garden – there are some things you should know to ensure you get the healthiest product available and get the longest possible vase life from your purchase. Here’s what you need to know:
1 – The first thing you should do is ask the florist or shop owner when they received the flowers. This will give you a good indication of their freshness. The more days they’ve been in the shop, the fewer days they’ll be in your vase.
2 – There’s something called a ‘bullet rose’. These are roses with the petals so tight together that they’ll never open. To make sure it’s not a bullet rose, check the petals at the top of the flower and make sure they are a little bit loose.
3 – Make sure the petals aren’t ‘too loose’. If the rose is fully open, it’s not going to last much longer.
4 – Check there are no brown spots on the petals. If there are, give them a miss as this means they were either unhealthy to begin with, or are dying rapidly.
Now you have your roses, here are some tips on how to care for them:
1 – When you get them home remove all the leaves that will be below the water line once you put them in a vase. Leaves will add bacteria to the water causing them to perish quicker.
2 – Re-cut the stems at an angle and place them directly in a vase filled with fresh clean water.
3 – Keep the flowers out of direct sunlight, heat sources, and drafts.
4 – Every 2-3 days, re-cut the stems and put in fresh water.
5 – If you put garden roses in warm water it will help the rosebuds to open.
If you shop knowledgeably for roses and put a little bit of time and effort into caring for them, you’ll be able to enjoy them day, after day, after day.
We already know that the rose is the birth month flower for June. Here are some other fun facts:
It is the national flower for the UK and the USA.
It is the official state flower for New York, North Dakota, and Georgia.
There are over a hundred species of roses.
A ‘Black Rose’ is not actually black but a dark red.
Roses are edible. Just make sure no chemicals or pesticides have been used on them.
And in finishing, I share with you again one of my all-time favourite quotes to reflect on:
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” – Abraham Lincoln
