Storytime Tapestry E-zine

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Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Educational Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

February 14, 2008

FASCINATING FACTS and EDUCATIONAL EDIFICATION:

On Valentine’s Day

An old man got on a bus one February 14^th, carrying a dozen roses.  He sat down beside a young man.  The young man looked at the roses and said, “Somebody’s going to get a beautiful Valentine’s Day gift.”  “Yes,” said the old man.  A few minutes went by and the old man noticed that his young companion was staring at the roses.  “Do you have a girlfriend?” the old man asked.  “I do,” said the young man.  “I’m going to see her right now, and I’m going to give her this Valentine’s Day card.”  

They rode in silence for another 10 minutes, and then the old man got up to get off the bus.  As he stepped out into the aisle, he suddenly placed the roses on the young man’s lap and said, “I think my wife would want you to have these.  I’ll tell her that I gave them to you.”   He left the bus quickly.  As the bus pulled away, the young man turned to see the old man enter the gates of a cemetery.

Valentine Posy Better Be Rosy

Or

In the Language of Love, Red Says It Best.

‘Oh, they’re beautiful!” exclaimed the Ladies of the house, as I handed over a bunch of red roses I’d bought.  “I suppose that red roses are the symbol of love?”  “Yes,” I said, “that’s why I bought them, though I don’t know the story behind it all.”  “Oh, I can tell you!” Evelyn said.  “After Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, Eve slipped back to pick a rose to show Adam she still loved him.  She wanted a red rose, but all she could find was a white one.  Then she kissed it, and it turned red.  That’s why red roses have been exchanged between lovers ever since.”  I was glad I’d bought red roses on the way home.  If I hadn’t, I might never have heard that lovely tale!  It also got me searching as to ------------------------Why?

Why red roses for Valentine’s Day?  Why not tulips or orchids or primulas?

     The answer is that the rose is the unrivalled flower of love.  Named the “queen of flowers” in 600 BC by the Greek poet Sappho, the rose was the chosen flower of the love goddess Aphrodite and later, in Roman times, the flower of Venus.

      One of the world’s oldest flowers [there is fossil evidence dating back over 40 million years] the rose is said to symbolize the pleasure and pain of romance ----- the thorns representing the agony of separation, lost love or a broken heart; the soft, velvety petals. Bright colour, and intoxicating fragrance symbolizing the joy, beauty and pleasure of love, courtship and intimacy

      Here in British Columbia (Canada) at least 900,000 roses --- about 150,000 a day --- pass through the United Flower Growers auction in Burnaby this week on their way to garden centers where they sell for between $65 and $95 a dozen.  Wrapped in fancy paper or displayed in a special vase, the price can be as steep as $145 a dozen.

      Long stemmed grown here are generally more expensive than the imported varieties, but the producers maintain they are fresher, being cut and delivered within three to five days, compared with imported varieties that are cut and packaged in boxes weeks before they arrive in stores.

      Almost five times as many long-stemmed roses are imported from South America, notably Columbia and Ecuador.  Others are now starting to be brought in from India.  The reason is simply that local growers can’t meet the demand at Valentine’s Day.

      But do women really want to be given red roses?

      Most women prefer a mixed bouquet with a wild and colourful assortment of flowers.  And instead of red roses, many of them would sooner have an antique coloured rose such as Paradise or a red and cream bicolour like Fire and Ice.

       Leonidas, a coral-yellow bicolour, is one of the most popular non-reds and it is also popular nowadays to buy an all-blue rose --- actually, a pure white Eskimo rose dyed blue.

{darkest cultivated red rose of them all is Black Magic.

      The ancient Egyptians grew roses by the millions and shipped them to Rome, where petals were scattered like confetti to carpet entire rooms during festivities.

      The ancients, of course, knew a very different kind of rose to those we have today.

      While undeniably beautiful, modern red roses are mostly scentless specimens cultivated to sculptural perfection through intense greenhouse production.

      Lavonde is one of the rare exceptions, being strongly fragrant when fully open.  But the blooms are lavender-purple, and, as everyone knows, red is the requisite colour of passion.

      Few people likely realize the rose’s cousin is the apple, and that the botanical family also includes peaches and strawberries.

      Yet of all flowers, the rose has figured most prominently in the poetic language of love.  Emily Bronte wrote “love is like the wild rose-briar” and Keats considered the musk-rose “the sweetest flower of wild nature yield.”

Shakespeare’s Juliet observed “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

      With such a past it is hardly surprising we now have roses with such names as First Love, Cupid, Sweet Juliet, Surpassing Beauty, Lovely Lady, Lover’s Meeting, Sexy Rexy, Honeybunch, and not forgetting the Sweetheart rose, also known as Cecile Brunner.

      In folklore, however, there exists a romantic language of flowers that is intended for much more practical communication. --- as a secret code that allows lovers to speak their heart’s desire without saying a word.

      According to The Language Of Flowers:   An Anthology of Poetry and Prose [Lorenz Books, $12.95] ‘to send clematis with white lilies and ivy would signify, ‘I admire your intelligence and respect you.  Will you marry me?’   In response, a simple posy of blue periwinkles would be a way of saying, “well, let’s be friends for the time being.’”

      How flowers got these labels is a mystery but if you want to play the flower-language game here’s a little vocabu;ary to be going on with: ivy (fidelity and marriage); clematis (intelligence); deep red carnations (alas my poor heart); snowdrops (hope); foxgloves (insincerity); daisies (innocence), daisy (I share your sentiments; Christmas rose (relieve my anxiety); and primrose (ever young).

       To give someone a rose is to tell them you love them.  A white rose says “I am worthy of your” while a yellow rose says “I love our friendship.”

        But for romance, there is nothing that says it better than a red rose which, according to the Language of Flowers, says:  “My Love is Pure.”

Hartson Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net