Learn about rose flower meanings by color and numbers to inform the gift you intend to get someone. Although it could be an innocent mistake, you don’t want to convey the wrong message.

Rose Flowers

I know you must have watched a movie scene with sweet background music and a romantic setting and a love-struck lady is handed a rose by a handsome gentleman.

And she smells it with her eyes closed like she spent her entire life waiting for this particular moment. The two lovebirds then stare at each other with googly eyes, and the kiss is almost always inevitable.

That being said, I must admit that rose flowers are the most common flowers in the world. Roses are not only beautiful to look at but also sweet to smell.

History of Rose Flowers

Fossil evidence has been used to indicate that roses are about 35 million years old. Garden cultivation of roses is estimated to be about 5,000 years old and is thought to have begun in China.

Today, there are hundreds of rose species and thousands of cultivars found in almost all parts of the world.

Famous writers mention rose flowers in their writing, for example, Shakespeare mentioned roses in Romeo and Juliet. The famous poet Robert Burns also wrote a poem about the beauty of the red rose.

Over the years, the different colors of roses have been used to symbolize different messages. The red rose bears much significance compared to the roses of other colors.

The red roses have been used over the centuries to send a strong message of love (not the kind you have for your parents or siblings!).

Although many people have given and received roses as a gift for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, birthdays, or just because, a good number still do not know the meaning associated with the roses.

Rose Colors and Their Meanings

Let’s look at some of the common rose color meanings and numbers.

Red Rose Meanings

Red rose flowers color is used to express deep emotions of love, passion, romance, longing, and desire “I Love You”.

What most people don’t know is that when the roses are bright red, they signify a love that is fulfilled. However, when they are dark in color, say burgundy, they signify the love that is a one-sided or unconscious beauty.

You can also use the red roses to convey devotion, admiration, respect, and courage “Job Well Done”.

Yellow Rose Meanings

Yellow rose flowers color are used to express friendship, joy, delight, gladness, and care. So, guys, these are not the flowers you want to send to your crush unless you want to be friend-zoned.

You should use them for platonic emotions such as “welcome back”, “remember me”, “I care”, and sometimes even associated with “jealousy”.

Roses that are yellow with red tips are used to indicate friendship that is developing into love.

White Rose Meanings

White rose flowers are used to express innocence, humility, purity, reverence, secrecy, and chastity. You can use them to convey new beginnings as well as sympathy.

Pink Rose Meaning

Pink rose flowers color is used to express admiration, elegance, joy, and grace. Just like calla lilies, the pink color is also used to express gratitude.

The hue is used to symbolize different things. Light pink roses are used to indicate sympathy, sweetness, and gladness.

While the dark pink indicates gratitude and appreciation “Thank you”, is the kind you send someone who helped you out.

Orange Rose Meaning

Orange rose flowers are used to express energy, passion, desire, and enthusiasm. You can use the orange roses to convey intense pride, desire, and fascination.

The rose colors are often mixed to communicate different things. White and red to signify unity, red and yellow to signify happy feelings.

Lavender Rose Meaning

The lavender rose flowers are used to express enchantment. These are the roses you want to send someone you have loved at first sight (that is if you believe in it!).

The deep shades of lavender roses are associated with splendor, adoration, and regal majesty.

Blue Rose Meaning

The blue rose flowers are used to express the unattainable. The perfect blue rose is unavailable in nature and hence its frequent use in art and literature to express things that are too difficult to achieve.

Black Rose Meaning

The black rose flower is fictional and does not exist in nature. The majority of the roses depicted as black are actually, deep maroons or purple. black roses are used to symbolize death or loss.

A faded rose is used to symbolize the fleeting nature of beauty. While a withered white rose is used to symbolize lost innocence or death.

Rose Flowers Number Meanings

Rose Color and number	Meaning
One red rose	I love you or You are the one for me
Two red roses	Let us be together or Intertwined means marry me
Six red roses	Half-way in love with you
Twelve red roses	Be mine
Thirteen red roses	Secret admirer
Twenty-five red roses	Congratulations
Fifty red roses	My love for you is limitless
One white rose	My feelings are pure
One pink rose	I like you
One lavender rose	You enchant me
One orange rose	I am proud of you
One peach rose	Thank you
One yellow rose	Let’s just be friends or you bring joy in my life
One yellow rose with red tips	I am falling in love with you

It is clear that you can choose different colored roses to communicate the desired message in a creative way.

I know am not the only one who was thinking that 25 red roses are too pricey just to say congratulations.

Just to add, if the person you are giving the roses accepts them with the right hand, it can be interpreted to mean that they are in agreement with you. However, if they accept it with the left hand they disagree. Do people really know this?

Rose Flowers Varieties

Understanding rose flower varieties is especially important for gardeners and florists. The growing habits of the roses are different and it is important to know which variety you are planting or ordering. 

There are over 150 species of roses not to mention the thousands of hybrids.

Rose varieties are divided into 3 main categories: Modern roses, Old Garden roses and, wild or species roses & their hybrids.

Modern roses

Modern Roses are those varieties bred after the late 1860s. The idea that most people have when roses are mentioned is the modern roses.

The classification of Modern Roses is not straightforward, the majority of the varieties have Old Garden Roses in their ancestry.  However, the classification is primarily based on growth and flowering traits.

For example, one of the distinguishing characteristics between Old Garden Roses and Modern Roses is that Old Garden Roses bloom once a year while Modern Roses bloom continuously.

The Modern Roses also have a larger bloom size and longer shelf life. However, they lack fragrance and are less hardy and disease-resistant compared to the Old Garden Roses.

Modern Roses are a broad mix which includes the following types:

Miniature

Miniature roses are perfectly formed small roses. In most of cases, the miniature roses look like diminutive Floribundas or Hybrid Tea.

There are also varieties that resemble the Old Rose blossoms with double and semi-double blossoms.

Landscape

The landscape roses are often used to refer to all shrub roses which are commonly used for landscaping.

Some of the characteristics used to identify them include, being hardy, pest and disease-resistant, having repeat-flowering, and requiring little to no care.

Hybrid Tea

They come in an incredibly diverse range of colors and can be distinguished by their long, strong stems.

The flowers also have large, high, pointed buds that produce repeat blooms. Hybrid Tea roses can be susceptible to disease and winter kill.

Other examples of modern roses include the Floribunda, Grandiflora, Hybrid Musk, Hybrid Rugosa, climbing roses, Mini-flora, and Polyantha.

Wild Roses

Wild roses are also known as species roses and are mostly large climbing or shrub-like roses. They also have single, flat flowers which bloom in late spring or early summer followed by seeds in autumn.

For those who are very particular about the classifications, Species rose is used to refer to natural wild roses that haven’t been hybridized. The plants are extremely hardy and survive on minimal maintenance.

This type of roses also has five-petal flowers that bloom in early summer. The majority of the species of roses grow quite large and may form thickets if not controlled.

Wild roses can be found in different regions in the Northern Hemisphere. Fossil records have been used to date them as far back as 30-40 million years!

The wild blooms are usually found in white, pink, and red coloring.

Rosa Multiflora

This category of roses is native to Asia. It has also been listed as invasive in some regions northeastern of the USA.

Originally, the roses were introduced to manage soil erosion, as hedges and food for wildlife.

However, the flower’s vigor and hardiness caused it to spread rapidly choking out native plants.

The multiflora blooms once per year in late spring or early summer. It has trusses of white, honey-scented blossoms which mature into a multitude of bright red seeds in autumn. The species multiflora is often used as a rootstock for grafting roses.

Rosa Moyesii

The species is native to China. This rose bears red flowers which mature into large seeds which are high in vitamin C.

The rose forms winter hardy plants while hybrids of the species form large, broad shrubs which are often found in shades of red, pink, or white.

Other examples of Wild Roses include; Rosa Woodsia, Rosa Setigera, and Rosa Canina.

Old Garden Roses

Old Garden roses are also called antique or heritage roses. These types of roses have been in existence since 1867 without being changed.

The Old roses flower once, in early summer, and are generally recognized through their strong fragrance. They are extremely hardy and require little or no pruning.

Old Garden roses are sometimes referred to as “French roses”. The group has one of the oldest cultivated species of roses with examples stretching back as early as the 12th century.

Examples of old garden roses include:

Green rose

The species is native to southern Europe. The flowers are characterized by white, fragrant, single-petaled flowers which bloom in summer followed by orange-red seeds in autumn.

Alba

They have light pink to white fragrant blossoms which emerge from upright shrubs with blue-grey-green foliage.

Albas roses are known for tolerating shadier conditions, they are cold-hardy. The flowers also bloom once per year in the late spring or early summer.

Rose Rugosa

Rugosa roses have been used extensively in breeding programs. They are useful in developing roses that are being bred to withstand less-than-ideal growing conditions such as colder temperatures.

The Rugosa roses are preferred because they are incredibly hardy and easy to naturalize.

The flowers are characterized by strongly scented blossoms and wrinkled, feather-like leaves. It also forms a dense thicket-like shrub with single-petaled blossoms which mature into seeds that are big almost the size of cherry tomatoes.

The species is native to Japan.

Gallica Roses

The roses are fragrant and also bloom once per year.  They can form a dense, thick shrub that can reach heights of about 4-5 feet. The shrubs are prone to suckering.

Gallica roses produce amazing blooms that can be found in various shades ranging from light pink to deep pink. The roses also have dark wine colors and even striped colorations.

The roses are tolerant of shade, poor soils, and cold winters.

Other examples of Old Garden Roses include Lady Banks, Yolande d’Aragon, Francis Dubreuil, and Baronne Prevost.

Related Posts:

• Growing Rose Flowers
• Complete Care Guide For Hybrid Tea Roses

Final Thoughts

Roses are beautiful flowers. Whether you want to grow them, arrange them, or just gift them, you can never go wrong.

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