This very surprising and extraordinary beginning of the rose plant will astonish you. Your admiration of rose plants, including Floribunda, Grandiflora, Hybrid Tea and Polyantha roses will change forever.

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2.  The history of roses begins long before one would
imagine. Roses were here long before the first
human beings set eyes on them, fell in love with
them and began writing about the genus Rosa in
song and poetry that celebrated their romantic
beauty in color and form. They were here millions
of years before the first gardeners began creating
the world renowned public and private gardens
that further enriched humanity's love affair with
the 150 species that were spread throughout the
Northern Hemisphere of planet earth.

3.  One of the first fossil finds was right here in the
United States where the genus Rosa left an
imprint on a slate deposit in the Florissant Fossil
Beds in Colorado dating back forty million
years ago. Other fossil finds from the Oregon
and Montana area of our country date some
35 million years ago.

4.  When rose gardeners and afficionados across the
United States begin preparing their gardens
and/or attending the Spring Flower Shows that
highlight the latest Floribunda, Grandiflora, Hybrid
Tea and Polyantha rose plants, may these fossil
finds make an imprint on their mind on what a
special plant and flower they are working with.

5.  It is believed that the genus Rosa originated in
central Asia some 60 to 70 million years ago
and from there spread over the entire Northern
Hemisphere. Roses grew wild throughout the
Northern Hemisphere in what we now call Asia,
Europe, Northern Africa and North America.
Roses grow wild from as far north as Alaska and
Norway and as far south as Mexico and Egypt.

6.  With the arrival of human beings the garden
cultivation of roses began some 5,000 years ago,
probably in the area of China. Confucius, about
500 B.C., wrote about roses growing in the
Imperial Gardens and noted that the library of the
Chinese emperor contained hundreds of books
about roses.

7.  In the ancient Middle Eastern and Western
civilizations the oldest identifiable rose today,
Rosa gallica, whose exact origin is unclear,
traces its appearance to the twelfth century B.C.
where the Persians first connected the rose to be
a symbol of love.

8.  Rosa damascena, Damask rose, whose well-
known fragrance is a rich part of the rose plant
history, dates back to 900 B.C. The ancient
civilizations of the Phoenicans, Minoans,
Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and the surrounding
mediterranean cultures all grew and traded in
roses.

9.  These traveled trading routes made the genus
Rosa one of the most desirable plants to have
that created the beautifully renown gardens for
the most famous leaders of the world at that time,
including Alexander the Great, King of
Macedonia. Alexander the Great is credited for
introducing cultivated roses into Europe, and
maybe North Africa as well. Throughout the
history of Western Civilization the rich and famous
cultivated roses, including Charlemagne, the
Holy Roman Emperor, who grew roses on the
palace grounds at Aix-la-Chapelle in Aachen,
Germany.

10.  The Greek scientist, educator and writer
Theophratus is credited with compiling the first
known detailed botanical description of roses
around 300 B.C. for the Western Civilization. His
excellent work, Historia Plantis, gained him the
title “Father of Botany”. This work was the primer
for all cataloging of roses, even for today's rose
plants, including Floribunda, Grandiflora, Hybrid
Tea and Polyantha roses.

11.  The significant discovery of the North African rose
plant, Rosa damascena semperflorens, Autumn
Damask, around 50 B.C. is considered one of the
first hybrids. It is believed to be a cross between
Rosa gallica and Rosa moschata, the musk
rose. It was the first and only repeating bloomer
known to Western Civilization until the 18th and
19th centuries when roses from China were
introduced to Europe. It also may have been the
first naturally cross-pollinated rose plant.

12.  Another important early rose is Rosa alba, the
white rose, made famous in the War of Roses by
the House of York, England, in the Fifteenth
Century. Rosa alba and its relative roses are
believed to have been formed from some
combination of the following roses, including
Rosa gallica, Rosa damascena, Rosa canina
and Rosa corymbifera.

13.  Through travel, trade and conquests these
varieties of Rosa alba spread throughout the
regions of the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
The rose and rose gardens had a prominent place
in the Roman Empire where public records reveal
that there were some 2000 public gardens
throughout Rome before it collapsed in 476 A.D.

14.  It was the Benedictine Monks in their
monasteries that are in a large part responsible
for keeping the roses thriving during the
tumultuous post Roman Empire years throughout
Europe with the continuous onslaught of invading
Barbarian forces of the Visogoths, Huns, Vandals
and others. Benedictine Monks in particular
became the center of botanical research growing
and studying plants for a variety of medicinal
purposes.

15.  The history of rose plants, Floribunda, Grandiflora, Hybrid Tea and
Polyantha roses Part Two will continue in the 17th Century when
the interest in the genus Rosa was rekindled with new discoveries
from around the world and increased with the maritime expeditions
of the English, French, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish to the New
World and Far East.

Copyright © Bob Walsh
www.HowToGrowPlumeriaFrangipani.com