Rose Colors - True Meanings and Symbols in the Garden?

9 years ago

Happy Valentines Day!

I have been reviewing the colors of roses, and do not agree with the traditional meanings.

I love the rose in the garden perhaps more than the cut flower.

White roses together give a beautiful glow at night, and day or night they represent basic beauty to me. (Not so much purity or innocence)

Apricot and peach represent a rather classic refined elegance to me. (Not so much modesty or even enthusiasm)

As I look at other colors and their definitions, I realize all the color symbols are different for me as I see them in the garden.

Do your roses influence you, and do they represent different symbols or meaings other than the traditional ones?

Featured Answer

Sow_what? Southern California Inland

9 years ago

Sammy, colors can be so powerfully evocative, and that's probably why the rules don't always apply. Your history is not my history, but some experiences are universal to all humanity, and that's when colors can tell a story. Pair up blue and green, and you've created an oasis of tranquility. Pink with orange, playful and fun. Red and yellow, hot, hot, hot.

In the Garden of Forgotten Dreams I wanted to create a magical world, an abandoned garden -- long forgotten and overgrown. The experience: a reawakening, hazy like a half-remembered dream. Rich with memories of laughter and tears. I groped for colors that were dreamy and harmonious; neighbors on the color wheel that would play well together in a quiet way. No blaring trumpets to jar the journey's dreamlike state. I used the deep burgundy-red of Tradescant for love and loss and soulful introspection. The chalky pink of Alnwick, not unlike white lipstick over pink lips; redolent of warm sand under bare feet, sun-pinked cheeks, and girlish giggles. And then Carding Mill with its pinky-apricot dash of impish fun, like the high-pitched squeals and laughter of children scampering through the garden in a round of hide-and-seek. The result of this color triad: exactly what I hoped for.

For me, color is always a part of the story. And the most moving part? When you recognize the experience is shared.
. . . . .
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Comments (6)

User
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
..I can't say that they do Sammy...although it's interesting to hear that you do, and to understand the way you look at them....

...rather than colours, and this has been touched on before, but names of roses are rather important to me... I choose specifically by name, not necessarily the best rose of its type, although I try to merge the two where possible... it won't matter if it's considered the best rose on the planet...if I don't like the name for one reason or another.....then it's not in my garden...

..oh..and a Happy Valentine's Day to you too...a little belatedly...
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sammy zone 7 Tulsa
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks Malorena and So what. I am not familiar with Humpty Dumpty House, and need to check it out.
Sow_what? Southern California Inland
9 years ago
Sammy, we have a series of picturesque garden rooms right across the street from a major medical center. We offer free gardening workshops and seminars to the public, and hold fundraising garden tours for charitable organizations. The organic produce we grow is delivered (along with clothing and household supplies) to people in our area who are struggling to recover from a tragedy. And our Garden of Tears is available for memorials when a loved one is lost.

The gardens are temporarily closed as I heal from an injury in the hospital. We have the possibility of help if I can keep up regular posts on facebook, and if I can get our number of likes up to a respectable level so that we don't look like a " sinking ship" -- which we are not. So I'm hoping some of my GW friends will visit our facebook page, and IF they like us, that they'll give us a page like. Thanks to everyone who has done so. Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/HumptyDumptyHouse

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sidos_house
9 years ago
I am reading a book about the Faberge Eggs and the last of the czars in Russia. While describing the 1895 Rosebud Egg and exploring the possibilities of its symbolism, the author said that (according to Germans) yellow roses were the most desirable but that there was also the tradition of giving yellow roses to end a relationship.
roseberri, z6
9 years ago
hi, I am a returning poster from awhile back, I think all of your thoughts about roses are interesting! Also, it seems to me that most of the rose/flower symbolism I have seen come from a different time( mainly Victorian) and is perhaps a bit out dated. And Sow-what also just pointed out we all come from different places, physically and spiritually so what we see in a rose or a color is interpreted differently.

I tend not to look at them not as representing anything in particular but as individuals, friends you might say in my garden each with its own personality. It pains me to lose one, especially my long time friend Alba Semi- Plena! He was a white rose that I thought of as not innocence and purity but a plant of strength and dignity handed down through the ages.

roseberri

Rose Colors - True Meanings and Symbols in the Garden?

Sow_what? Southern California Inland

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Rose Colors - True Meanings and Symbols in the Garden?

Sow_what? Southern California Inland

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sammy zone 7 TulsaOriginal Author

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sammy zone 7 Tulsa
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