A Rose By Any Other Name

With their versatility, deep-rooted symbolism and timeless appeal, roses are the perfect emblem of love to grace any wedding décor.  Our obsession with roses dates back to Ancient Rome, when roses were used to symbolize devotion to Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, and desire.  The rose is the official flower of the United States, the United Kingdom, and even New York.  Fossil evidence teaches us roses are over 35 million years old, with 150 species naturally growing across the Northern Hemisphere.  It wasn’t until the late eighteenth century that we began to breed roses and create thousands of hybrids in a wide range of colors and shapes.

To give you an idea of the range of roses available, we outlined a few of the most commonly used species, each with their unique set of strengths.

 

Spray Roses

 

Spray roses feature short, individual stems of small blooms. With 3-5 flowers coming together on a single thicker stem, spray roses are a great way to fill in a bouquet or centerpiece with clusters of little blooms without overpowering the piece. Each flower on a stem of spray roses grows at its own pace, adding variety and detail to any arrangement.

 

Standard Roses

 

Standard roses are the hearty single bloom flowers we’ve come to know so well.  Standard roses are perfect if you’re going for a simple, classic look, or to fill in a bouquet without distracting from more adventurous blooms.  Standard roses are also known for their long life, and can last up to two weeks looking fresh and fabulous.

 

Garden Roses 

 

Garden roses are known for their amazing scent and their abundant whirls of ruffled petals coming together in a “cup” shape.  With their dense delicate layers, garden roses are often used as a substitute for peonies when peonies are out of season.  While the cut stems don’t last as long as Standard Roses, when planted in the garden, they’re known for their hardy resilience to winter and disease.

 

Sweetheart Roses

 

Sweetheart Rose refers to a range of petite roses, measuring 2-3 inches wide.  These adorable blooms are perfect for boutonnieres or flower crowns. They’re also a great way fill in a bouquet or arrangement with a variety of complimentary colors.

 

With more and more roses being developed every year, new varieties are always coming into style   The following are sub-varieties of roses we see trending with modern brides:

 

Tibet Roses 

 

The Tibet rose is a classic cream-white rose with smooth petals coming together in a symmetrical bloom. Tibet roses are beautiful on their own in their perfect simplicity, or to counterbalance a colorful arrangement.

 

Juliet Roses

 

This stunning, apricot-colored bloom was developed by famed rose breeder David Austin. It cost him nearly $3M to perfect the Juliet rose over the course of 15 years, before it debuted at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2006.  Soft, romantic, and voluminous, Juliet roses feature an intricate rosette shape within a ring of larger petals.

 

Free Spirit Roses

 

These large blooms are true to their name, with many layers of unique, ruffled petals in golden, pink, and orange tones that add a pop of energy and zest to any design.