By T.C. Conner

The Write Gardener

It’s been New York’s state flower since 1955; Georgia declared it as its emblematic flower in 1916; North Dakota and Iowa call it their flower; and Ronald Reagan officially made it our national flower on Nov. 20, 1986:

“Now, therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the rose as the National Floral Emblem of the United States of America.”

Earlier in his proclamation, the president had these words to say regarding the rose: “For the love of man and woman, for the love of mankind and God, for the love of country, Americans who would speak the language of the heart do so with a rose.”

June is the month when roses start showing us why they’re our country’s floral emblem. Considered by many to be one of the most elegant and beautiful flowers, the rose just might be the queen of all flowering plant genera. Fossil evidence indicates species of roses dating from the Oligocene era, some 35 million years ago, so they’ve had plenty of time to work their way up through the lowly ranks to become royalty in the plant kingdom.

EveryRose.com has a searchable database of more than 7,500 different roses. You can find Albas, Bourbons, Centifolias, Chinas, Climbers, Damasks, English roses, and Rugosa roses, just to name a few. And there’s over 2,700 photographs to help you choose the right color.

David Austin Roses (www.davidaustinroses.com) gives us three new English rose varieties for this year: a delicately beautiful white shrub rose, ‘Claire Austin;’ a peach-colored tea rose, ‘Port Sunlight;’ and ‘Christopher Marlowe,’ a deep pink rose with a “tea scent with hint of lemon.”

Fragrance is the most important feature when I’m searching for a new rose; that, and a rose’s resistance to disease. If fragrance is high on your list for what to look for in a rose, Lily Shohan in “Old Roses For Fragrance” recommends the Centifolias. Most Centifolias grow 4 to 5 feet in height, are leafy, and bear lush, fragrant, pink blossoms (colors also range from white to deep rose-red; some are striped and spotted). Ms. Lily lists ‘Juno,’ ‘Crested Moss’ and ‘La Noblesse’ as having “that sweet, somewhat fruity but alluring scent.”

In Maureen’s herb garden, ‘Gertrude Jekyll,’ an English rose, has the quintessential old rose fragrance. Flowers are large, rosette-shaped and colored a deep, rich, glowing pink. Gertrude Jekyll was a famous garden designer who still influences today’s landscape architects on the style of English gardens. President Reagan was probably familiar with my favorite rose, the ‘Gertrude Jekyll,’ at least that’s the feeling I get when reading his proclamation making the rose our National Floral Emblem.

“Americans have always loved the flowers with which God decorates our land. More often than any other flower, we hold the rose dear as the symbol of life and love and devotion, of beauty and eternity.”

T.C. Conner is a Master Gardener and columnist for Allied News. He can be reached at tc@thewritegardener.com. Check out his blog at http://the writegardener.blogspot.com. Pick up a copy of his article at Allied News, 201A Erie St., Grove City. Publish date June 24, 2009.