A garden of roses

A line of rose-covered arches in a beautiful garden in Baden-Baden, Germany.

Seeds inside the rose hip are eaten by birds attracted by the red fruit and spread in their droppings. This climbing rose is native to China.

The crimson rose becomes more fragrant in the warmth of the sun.

Cupped golden yellow petals are mildly scented.

Long, straight stems hold these medium- to large-sized roses upright.

In 1998, researchers sent the miniature rose they called “Overnight Scentsation” into space, aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery. The purpose was to study the effect of low gravity on the oils released from the rose’s petals. After 10 days, they discovered that the rose had produced an entirely new scent, unlike any rose scent found on Earth. Fruits called hips develop once the flower has been fertilized and the petals fall off. This full blooming variety was bred from five-petaled wild roses.

Roses were the first plants to be grown simply for their beauty and have graced gardens for around 5,000 years. The rose flower has been used as a symbol across the world, representing ideas such as love and purity, as well as adopted as the emblem of kings and countries. Almost all wild roses have five overlapping petals and are known as “single” blooms. Over the centuries, gardeners have taken species of wild roses, particularly the Chinese rose, and cultivated them to get flowers with three or more layers of petals, known as “double” blooms, such as the

This multilayered rose variety cost $4 million to develop. This pale pink rose is prized for its smell.

Rose petals must be steamed with water, the same day they are picked, to extract the perfumed oil.

This striped pink flower was cultivated more than 400 years ago.

can be made into fishing hooks.

Pale pink flowers bloom from dark pink buds.

Leaflike sepals protect the growing bud. Iceberg was voted the “world’s favorite rose” in 1983.

This deep red rose may have as many as 26–40 petals and is very fragrant.

Banks’ rose and iceberg rose. Some modern varieties, including the Juliet rose and crimson glory, have more than 25 petals and are called “full” blooms. Rose breeders have been able to create white, yellow, orange, pink, and red roses, but never a truly blue one. Rose petals contain oils with a wonderful fragrance used in perfumes and many other beauty products, while rose water is used to flavor sweets such as Turkish delight. Some roses, such as the dog rose, bear glossy, seed-bearing fruits called rose hips in fall. Rich in vitamin C, these can be used in teas, preserves, and medicines.