Language of a Rose

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“Rose Lingo”

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner you may be thinking about giving or sending flowers to that special person in your life.

Roses seem to be the most popular flower. According to the International Flower Growers Association 174 million Americans will buy roses for Valentine’s Day. We all know that roses are the choice flower for the day. The question is what color? With 70% of total rose sales, red has always been the favorite color signifying love, desire, and passion. But the Society of American Florist found that 62% of women when given a choice preferred pastel-colored roses such as white, shades of pink, peach and yellow.

For ages flowers have been used to express unspoken words of emotion. Flowers symbolized certain meanings: although sometimes there were several interpretations for the same flower. This is also true with the color of roses. Some customers may actually ask for the meaning of each color so as not to send the wrong message even though the receiver may not be aware of its meaning.

The following is an interpretive list of colored roses.

White rose – signifies purity, charm and innocence
White & red – unity
Pink – please believe me, perfect happiness
Yellow – jealousy, infidelity
Red – Love desire, passion

Irregardless of the confusing lists and surveyed preferences red roses have and will in their own language be used to say “I love you” and a box of chocolates will make it oh so much sweeter!

By the way, did you know that before roses, red tulips were the popular rage for Valentine giving. They symbolized perfect love.