The rose is the official National Floral Emblem of the United States. This legislation was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 7, 1986. The rose is also the state flower selected by Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Dakota and the District of Columbia.

Three separate nationally conducted public opinion polls, dating from 1975 to 1986, found the rose to be the number one choice of over 85 percent of those individuals surveyed.

George Washington, our first president, was also our first U.S. rose breeder!

In 1994, over 1,200,000,000 roses were purchased by U.S. flower buyers. This works out to a per capita consumption of 4.67 per person.

The rose is native to the United States. The oldest fossilized imprint of a rose was left on a slate deposit in Florisant, Colorado, which is estimated to be 35 million years old.

There are nearly 900 acres of greenhouse area dedicated to the production of fresh cut roses in the U.S.

About 60% of the roses grown in the U.S. are produced in California.

One acre of greenhouse rose production in the U.S. is valued at about one million dollars, including value of plants, greenhouse structure and land.

The most popular rose holidays in the U.S. are Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas.

Columbus discovered America because of a rose! It is written that on October 11, 1492, while becalmed in the Sargasso Sea, one of the crewmen picked a rose branch from the water. This sign of land renewed their hope for survival and gave the seafarers the courage to continue on to the New World.

America’s Favorite Flower

Universally accepted as living symbols of love, friendship, success and peace, roses are becoming more and more popular as gifts for all occasions and, as well, for spur-of-the-moment, everyday expressions of good feelings. They are being used as birthday and anniversary gifts, to decorate a hostess table, to say "thank you" for a job well done, or to say "I love you" at a most unexpected time.

The classic lines and beauty of the rose appeal to just about everyone, whether man or woman, modern or traditional, young or old. A rose gift is the perfect answer for the person who "has everything." It’s always the right size, shape and color, and it’s never too fattening. What’s more, the size of a rose bouquet can be adjusted to fit any pocketbook.

Symbol of Celebration

Roses have been a beautiful symbol of celebration in all cultures. Nothing expresses personal sentiments better than roses, and they’re always in style. Whatever color or size you choose, roses are perfect and perfectly beautiful. Who can ever forget the first time they received roses?

Roses in the U.S.

The rose has been selected by Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Dakota and the District of Columbia as their official flower. Given the tremendous popularity of roses among Americans, it’s no wonder that resolutions were introduced in Congress in 1986 to name the rose the National Flower.

The Christmas Rose

Roses always make beautiful and timely gifts, and they fit in especially well during the holiday season. According to legend, the rose actually came to be associated with Christmas on the night that Christ was born. As the very touching story of the Christmas rose goes, a little shepherdess was saddened because she had no gift to offer the Child of Bethlehem. Maintaining vigil over her sheep, she wept and wept - and her tears soaked the ground where she stood.

Suddenly an angel appeared, touched the tear-softened earth, and the ground sprang alive with beautiful roses. Immediately the girl gathered a magnificent bouquet of these Christmas roses and joyfully carried them to Christ’s manger. Just as soon as He laid eyes on them, the Holy Child turned from the gems and gold of the Wise Men and extended His tiny hands in the direction of the flowers.

Roots

Roses are native to the United States. Rose fossils that have been carbon dated some 35 million years old have been found in Montana and Oregon. There are 30,000 or more rose varieties known today and no other flower has such a complicated family tree. The experts divide all roses into two groups, "old roses," or those cultivated in Europe before 1800 (the red rose falls into this category); and "modern roses," which began to be cultivated in England and France around the turn of the 19th century. In olden times, roses bloomed only once a year. Now, though, roses are available to us through florist shops every single day of the year.