Come mid-February, flower shops overflow with red roses, and prices bloom right along with them. A dozen long stems in a box has become the classic way to say "I love you." But a rose is just a flower, like a tulip or a daisy. So how did it become the official bloom of romance?
The short answer is that several old traditions came together over centuries. The rose was linked to Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love. Valentine's Day itself became tied to romance around the 14th century. By the 18th century in England, couples marked the day by giving each other flowers. Then a Victorian-era fad for the secret language of flowers gave the red rose its clear meaning: true love.
The Goddess of Love's Flower
In ancient Greece, the rose was closely associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. In Homer's Iliad, she protects the body of the hero Hector with immortal oil of the rose. One ancient Greek poet even praised a beautiful young man by saying Aphrodite had raised him among rose blossoms.
Roses kept that romantic reputation through the centuries. In a famous ancient Roman novel, The Golden Ass, a goddess linked with Venus, Rome's goddess of love, tells the hero to eat rose petals to turn back from a donkey into a man.
How Valentine's Day Got Romantic
Valentine's Day began as a Christian feast honoring a martyr named Valentine, recorded as far back as the 8th century. For hundreds of years, it had no romantic meaning that we know of. That changed with the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. His 1382 poem Parliament of Fowls, about birds gathering to choose their mates, is believed to be the first recorded link between Saint Valentine's Day and romantic love.
Over the next few centuries, the idea caught on. By the 18th century in England, Valentine's Day had become an occasion for couples to show their love by giving flowers, offering sweets, and sending greeting cards called valentines.
Saying It With Flowers
The next big push came from a craze for floriography, the language of flowers, where each bloom carried a hidden message. The English writer Mary Wortley Montagu brought the idea to England in 1718 after traveling to Constantinople. It took off in the Victorian era, and books were published listing the meaning of each flower.
In that language, colors mattered. Common meanings include true love for red roses, friendship for yellow, and innocence or purity for white. A red rose became a way to say the most important thing without saying a word.
Even the famous rhyme has deep roots. The verse "Roses are red, violets are blue" echoes lines that can be traced back to Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene, from 1590.
A Billion-Dollar Bouquet
Today, Valentine's Day is big business. In the United States, total spending topped $18.2 billion in 2017, on jewelry, chocolates, cards, and flowers. Roses, especially red ones, are the most popular choice. Many of the roses sold in the U.S. are flown in on refrigerated airplanes from Colombia and Ecuador.
So when you hand someone a red rose this February, you're joining a tradition with roots in Greek myth, medieval poetry, and Victorian secret codes. Not bad for a single flower. And if you're on a budget, early spring tulips are the most popular locally grown alternative.
