By Kathleen Gresham
William Shakespeare wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.” From the days of Romeo and Juliet to modern times, the red rose has been synonymous with love.
There are many famous red rose varieties, from the red rose of Lancaster, which is perhaps the first cultured rose variety, to the hybrid tea rose, Mister Lincoln. In Greek and Polish languages the word rose itself denotes the color red.
Today, roses are popular all around the world. Originally, however, roses grew abundantly only in Central Asia. The Persians and Egyptians, who later developed a cultivated variety, discovered the wild rose.
A red rose held in a person’s hand symbolizes socialism and social democracy to the United Kingdom Labor Party. Later, several other European and South American socialist parties also adopted the red rose as their symbol.
Continue reading The Mystique of the Red Rose