June Flower of the Month

June  isthe month of Graduations, Weddings, and Anniversaries.

It's no wonder the Regal Rose is June's Flower.

Earliest roses are known to have flourished 35 million-years ago.The Egyptians were familiar with cultivated roses by 3000 B.C., building rose gardens in their palaces. Naturally preserved rose wreaths have been unearthed in ancient Egyptian tombs. By the time of Cleopatra’s reign, the rose had replaced the lotus as Egypt’s ceremonial flower.

In ancient times myths of the rose's creation vary. The rose was always in the Garden of Eden, but when Man was banished the rose aquired thorns to remind them the pain of what was lost. The Greeks tell that when Aprodite, the Goddess of Love emerged from the sea, roses sprouted from the earth and bloomed where she walked. The Romans, too, had thier lore that a maiden Rhodanthe (Rose) was found more beautiful than the god Artimes, so for her afront she was turned into a rose. 

In Christian writings the rose represents the Presious Blood of Jesus, the Church, the Virgin Mary. Many documents of the sitings of heavenly visitations are preceded by the fragrance of roses.

Romans cultivated the, Rosa Gallica in large numbers. Plants were grown everywhere. They were the first culture to use roses as the official wedding flower. Newly married couples wore crowns made of roses.
In many acient civilizations roses and thier petals were used as currency. This is found especially in Roman and Chinese documentation. Roses were used as medecines, charms and talisman, fragrant oils, purifiers, and  found in recipes for salads and desserts.
Today the esteemed rose is cultivated for it's beauty and fragrance, still used in perfumes, cosmetics, teas, and gourmet treats. For years roses were cash crops for the states of Califonia, Texas....yes there was a true Yellow Rose of Texas, but not available on the open market and couldn't be transported outside of Texas.......and Indiana, but now the majority of roses are grown in Ecuador in South America due to its wonderful growing conditions perfect for roses.
We are always asked what is the meaning of this rose or that, during victorian times a rose meant different things, according to the color, but today with genetic manipulations we not only have red, white, pink, yellow, and some naturally occuring bi-colors, we have all shades and hues in between and even some man-made colors, so all roses mean Love. Some of the new colors include green, blue, black, and those that change colors....no not from a wonderful color to withered, dried brown of a dead flower, silly.......such as the  Chocolate Rose seen here..................

It starts life as a bud in a peachy-pinky yellow shade( this pic is a little dark) and turns to a satiny, milk-chocolate as it matures and opens. It has a long vase-life and opens to a huge bloom.

Alas, some of these new varieties aren't available in garden plants for the sheer fact that they cannot grow outside a greenhouse that looks more like a lab than a hothouse where grandma cultivated, in extremely guarded conditions. But, with the miracles of 21st century technology these modern age beauties are available as fresh cut  flowers by special order at the flower shop.  We have any color you could dream of and, of course, we have the Classic Red Rose available daily.

So, here are a few designs using the regal red rose.

Love That Binds

Tweet Love

Vintage Blush

Love Box

We hope you enjoyed this tribute to roses, especially to the classic red rose. As you can see she is very versatile and perfect to use for any ocassion

We are linking to Susan over at It's A Very Cherry World for her

Rednesday Wednesday here

And don't forget to check out our website at http://www.sharonvillehometownflorist.com/

also linked to Etsy Cottage Style Market Monday which goes on all week!