Fun Fact Fiesta Logo

Top 10 Blooming Fun Facts About Roses You Never Knew!

illustration of roses
Dive into a vibrant garden of knowledge as you uncover some fascinating, unexpected, and delightfully fragrant fun facts about roses!

1. Medicinal Love Symbols

Roses are red, violets are blue, my rhymes might be weak, but here's a fun tidbit for you: Roses have been a symbol of love and passion since ancient times, even inspiring poets like Robert Burns, but they also pack a healthy punch with their medicinal properties – ancient Greek and Roman doctors used rose petals to treat ailments such as headaches and sore throats.
Source => poetryfoundation.org

2. The Deceptive Turkish Delight

Roses are red, Turkish Delights are sweet, but here's a twist that will knock you off your feet: those delectable rosy treats aren't infused with the natural flavor of roses, as one might assume, but are crafted with a little culinary ruse!
Source => yumsome.com

3. Fossil Evidence: 35 Million-Year-Old Roses

Before roses became the stars of clichéd romantic gestures and smelly cosmetics: the wild rose species strutted their petals around 35 million years ago in Asia, evidenced by fossils found in Colorado.
Source => gardens.si.edu

4. The Color-Changing Rose Mystery

Did you hear the one about the bipolar rose? Its identity crisis had florists, the sun, and a chill in the air in quite a colorful tangle: Roses can change color due to factors like temperature variations with cool weather intensifying pink-to-red hues and age or heat causing their colors to fade; grafted roses and spontaneous mutations can lead to unexpected new varieties with different colors for leaves and flowers, but alas, they're not as moody as you may have been led to believe.
Source => canr.msu.edu

The £3 Million Rose Misconception

5. The £3 Million Rose Misconception

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo – with a bank loan large enough to buy the so-called "£3 million rose"? Turns out, love-struck gardeners need not sell their family jewels in this Shakespearean plot twist: The Juliet Rose, aka the most expensive rose ever cultivated, actually had a development cost of £3 million but can be purchased for as low as $50. Bred by the renowned David Austin over 15 years, this floral beauty made quite the entrance at the 2006 Chelsea Flower Show.
Source => theweathernetwork.com

6. When Roses Meet Apples

When life gives you roses, make apple pies: unbeknownst to many, the Rosaceae family, which boasts the romantic rose, also houses juicy delights like apples, pears, and strawberries, making it one of Earth's largest plant families with over 3,000 to 4,000 species within 100 to 120 genera!
Source => en.wikibooks.org

7. Roses: Bright Stars of the Plant World

In a classic case of life imitating art, roses have turned out to be the undisputed greatest method actors of the plant world, completely transforming their leaves into petals, all for the sake of glamour and a little thing called love: These botanical superstars ditched photosynthesis for flirtatiousness, using their colorful and aromatic petals to attract pollinators, while also boasting a resume of medicinal uses and role as a beloved symbol of affection through the ages.
Source => homework.study.com

8. A Prickle, Not a Thorn

Roses are red, violets are blue, but what's that prick you feel when they're given to you? Roses have prickles, not thorns, that's true: A true thorn is a modified stem, like on honey locust and hawthorn trees, while a prickle is a simple outgrowth on the stem unique to roses. Spines, on the other hand, are modified leaves found on plants like cacti and black locusts. So remember, when gifting roses to impress, it's prickles they bear, nothing more and nothing less!
Source => heraldnet.com

9. Time-Traveling Cultivated Roses

Roses are red, violets are blue, these flowers can boast about their history – can you? Time-traveling to ancient Asia to trace their roots, roses have navigated through Confucius's Imperial Gardens and juggled between Greek mythology and the Roman Empire, just for our bouquets: In fact, roses have been cultivated for over 5,000 years, becoming a symbol of love and beauty in various cultures throughout their picturesque journey.
Source => floraly.com.au

The Unsung Heroes of Rose Oil Production

10. The Unsung Heroes of Rose Oil Production

Did you ever consider thanking your lucky stars for not being a rose petal worker? With enough petals to fill a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden, these heroic folks certainly have their work cut out for them in the name of aromatic luxury: It takes a whopping 60,000 roses just to produce a single ounce of rose oil, thanks to the labor-intensive process and the low oil content in each flower, proving that sometimes, it's the little perfumed things in life that come at the highest cost.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

Related Fun Facts