Introduction to roses! | DOES THE ROSE FRUIT?

The rose has always been one of the most symbolic and beloved flowers. A single rose can express love, friendship, and sincerity, but it can also represent jealousy and envy.

Many flowers exist in the world, each with its own meaning, but what can compare to the rose? It is renowned for its simplicity, fragrance, and the striking contrast between its sharp thorns and delicate petals. Regardless of the variety, it consistently reigns supreme as the king of flowers.

To be honest, sometimes, like any confident person, the rose can seem a little boring. But the best way to change that is to delve deeper into its essence. Because the rose possesses countless captivating qualities that will ultimately draw you back to its allure.

ROSE

Let’s start with the basics: Roses belong to the Rosaceae family, which includes approximately 150 species distributed across Europe and Asia.

Rose classification is mainly divided into the following categories:

Each category contains countless varieties. For example, in Italy, you can find wild roses, Gallic roses, blue roses, weeping roses, and wild roses (Saturnia sempervirens).

If the classification of roses were limited to just one category, it would be too simplistic. But it’s not. As one would expect from such an ancient flower, roses have much more detailed classifications, especially some that subdivide them into broader categories:

• Botanical roses: they are spontaneous roses, generally non-reblooming. Their colors vary from white to pink and, more rarely, they turn yellow. Among the best known are: canina, gallica, glauca, saricea, spinosissima and laevigata.
• Ancient roses: a first dive into history takes us to these roses. The colors vary from white to various shades of pink up to reds and violets. Typically they flower only once but very showily. Among the best known we find: Banksian, Noisette, Portland and Tea.
• Modern rose: in this category we find hybrids. The first ever created was a hybrid of Tea, called “France«, born around the year 1867, which determines the transition between ancient and modern. A curious note is the color spectrum: modern roses can cover it all except dark blue. In this category we find bush roses, sapling roses, shrub roses, climbing roses, English roses and many many others.

Have you visited our site and seen that we have more than 700 varieties? No, that’s not a lie. It is true that we said before that the genus includes around 150 species, but taking into account all the hybrids born, the numbers rise considerably. Roses are among the favorite guests of Vivai le Georgiche, and, precisely for this reason, we make sure we have plenty of them!

THE HISTORY OF ROSES

Many flowering plants have a long history, but the rose is not!

Research shows that when humans first set foot on Earth, they could easily have picked a single rose if they wanted. Thanks to their tenacious vitality and adaptability, these courageous flowers have survived to this day. Of course, there weren’t nearly as many varieties back then, but after all, we were just getting started. Roses can reproduce naturally, and their thorns protect them from pests. However, over time, the rose’s vibrant colors attracted more and more pollinating insects, which, flitting among the flowers, led to variations and subspecies.

In short: whenever we see a rose, we should remember what it represents. The thousands of rose varieties we can grow in gardens today all originate from the original seven varieties. Nature never misses an opportunity to demonstrate its tenacious vitality!

DOES THE ROSE FRUIT?

Have you ever wondered? Maybe not, you definitely don’t grow roses for the fruit they may or may not produce. Despite this, we give an answer to this question: no.

What a clear answer right? Yet it makes sense. The rose produces i rosealso called «fruits», but in reality they are only false fruits, because they are not an enlargement of the ovary but of the receptacle of the flower. But it is also curious to know that inside these false fruits the real ones are hidden: the stop it.

While the achenes are hidden the rose hips remain in plain sight, as the main bodies. They often themselves become a rather characteristic decorative element of the varieties.

WITHOUT PLUG?

The same is true of rose thorns: every rose has its own.

They are both captivating and painful, and it is these thorns that make the rose so unique in our hearts.

After all, there’s a saying: «A rose without thorns is not a true rose.» Remove the thorns, and the rose loses its charm!

But more accurately, rose thorns don’t quite fit the definition of «thorns.» They are more accurately described as fine or sharp thorns, more fleshy and less resistant to pricking than ordinary thorns. In fact, they are easily removed from the stem.

GARDENING AND ROSES

The first area where we see her as a protagonist is gardening, of course. The great versatility of roses makes them an indispensable element for every situation, whether you want to make a garden unique or embellish a terrace.

There is no limit to their possibilities, from borders to climbing plants that give a poetic touch to pergolas. From small trees to dwarf species suitable for growing in pots.

Not to mention the value of cut roses. As we said when we talked about Marimo, cut flowers are not among our favorites, but it cannot be denied that they represent a very large and useful business for our economy.

KITCHEN AND ROSES

A good dish is certainly comparable to a small work of art, so imagine being able to add rose petals to it. Or have you ever tried pink flavored ice cream? Or still drank rose berry tea? In any sauce, even the most unexpected, roses pair well with the cuisine as if they were the queens of the dishes.

In ancient times the rose was well known for its gastronomic use, representing a fundamental ingredient.

ROSES ALLIED TO BEAUTY

It’s no secret that roses are a key ingredient in beauty products. Just read them as components to be sure of good quality and an intoxicating scent.

In the beauty of roses lies a certain confidence.

The rose is widely used in aesthetics and cosmetics thanks to its many beneficial properties, its essential oil is a natural antibacterial. It also helps heal skin redness.

Thanks to its high vitamin C content, masks protect skin cells from damage and would also help keep it hydrated.

In particular, rose oil is among the most expensive on the market and is considered a very precious component for creams, balms, perfumes and many other products.

THE ROSE WITHOUT THORNS

We could write articles similar to books about roses, full of stories and information. Rest assured that, little by little, we will be able to do it. Now, however, we are starting to introduce a bit of the myth that surrounds them.

One of the most beautiful is linked to the «Rose without thorns», the name by which Mary was known in the Catholic religion. This rose, pure and immaculate, was the perfect symbol to be linked to the woman and shows us how the rose already had considerable importance on a cultural level.

In Catholicism the rose appears very often, for example it is also considered a transfiguration of the blood of Christ. Furthermore, some time ago, the golden rose was blessed by the Pope on the fourth Sunday of Lent, as a symbol of power and spiritual instruction.

As proof of their tenacity, however, comes the legend reported by Saint Ambrose, according to which roses began to have thorns after the Fall of Man.

PINK LIKE THE LOTUS FLOWER

Without moving away from the iconography, we can say that the rose is the flower that, in the West, most embodies a wide range of symbolic meanings, comparable to those of the lotus in the East. Their wheel shape participates in the perfection of the circle, but without excluding a margin of error because it

“it refers to the world of becoming, of continuous creation, therefore of contingency and the perishable. It symbolically represents cycles, repetitions, renewals”.

Therefore the roses could be linked to birth, but not just any birth, but rather to the first birth that ever occurred, directly in the primordial waters.

In this regard we also find traces of the connection between the rose and the wheel in Gothic rose window and in the wind rosewhich mark the transition between the two symbols.

Well dear friends, this was a first look at the vast world of roses. We still have so much in store for you. Knowing and understanding everything related to roses is a bit like a journey, so stay with us and get ready to explore ancient times, arcane legends and extracts of literature, all this through the petals of magnificent roses!