Annual Rose Sale and Rose Facts You Probably Didn't Know

Summer is here and with it comes our annual rose sale! With savings of up to 80%, it's the best excuse to spoil yourself, and loved ones, with a dozen -- or more!! Shop here.

For fun, here is some background on this coveted bloom:

Throughout history, people from around the world have held the rose close to their hearts. The earliest known gardening was the planting of roses along the most travelled routes of early nomadic humans. Earliest roses are known to have flourished 35 million-years ago. The oldest rose fossil was found in Colorado and petrified rose wreaths have been unearthed from ancient Egyptian tombs. 

The renewed interest in the garden rose came with Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. Her dream was to establish a rose garden in Malmaison containing a collection of all the roses of the world. At the time of her death in 1814, she had collected 250 different types.

The era of modern roses was established with the introduction of the first hybrid tea rose, "La France" by the French breeder Guillot in 1867. This variety was considered unique for a number of important horticultural reasons:
1) Hybrid tea rose possessed the general habit of a hybrid perpetual rose.
2) The elegant shaped buds of hybrid tea rose.
3) Free flowering character of a tea rose.
Today we have nearly 30,000 varieties of roses. Unfortunately, through breeding, most have lost their unique scent.