Here are more suggestions and references for using roses to launch explorations across all discplines.

Introduce students to “rose code.”
During Victorian times, flowers were used to communicate subtle messages. People could share sentiments and feelings without words. Although the rose was generally a symbol of love and beauty, their colors were associated with different meanings.

Study and write poetry about roses.
References to roses are abundant in poetry. Use one or more of the following poems to launch the exercises in Growing Poems.

Asking for Roses by Robert Frost
In Medford Grows for You, a Rose by Beulah B. Pearson
Think of the Children as Roses by Burl Ives
A collection of rose-themed poetry

Introduce students to roses in mythology and folklore.
The rose is the focus of many Greek and Roman myths. For example, Flora, the Greek Goddess of spring and flowers, is credited with creating the rose by transforming a deceased nymph into the most beautiful flower on earth. Ask students to read a few tales and explore the role of mythology in history and cultures. Here are links to get you started.

Roses in Folklore
Rose History

Explore rose oil as a commodity.
Discover the culture surrounding the cultivation of roses for their essential oil. (At the time of the following Web site's creation, rose oil was worth three times more than gold by weight!)

Bulgarian Rose Festival

Learn about roses as cultural symbols.
Roses are the national floral emblem for the United States, as well as the official state flower of Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Dakota, and the District of Columbia. Discuss with your class the importance of symbols in government and culture. Read Ronald Reagan's proclamation of the rose as national emblem, and learn about your State Flower.

The World's Oldest Rose.
The world’s oldest living rose grows on the wall of the Hildesheim Cathedral of Germany. It’s believed to be 1,000 years old! This Web site about Hildesheim Cathedral offers some context for exploring the following activities:

Learn more about the significance of roses in various cultures throughout history:
Old Rose History
Santa Barbara Rose Society

Crunch data on the World's Largest Rosebush
At the Rose Tree Inn in Tombstone, Arizona grows a humongous Lady Banks Rose. It was planted from a cutting taken from a rosebush in Scotland in 1885. Its trunk is nearly twelve feet in circumference. The climbing shrub is supported by an arbor and covers an area of over 8,000 square feet (more than 150 people can be seated underneath the arbor). When in full bloom, this rosebush has more than 200,000 blossoms. For more details visit Gold Coast Rose Society.

Take your class out to the playground and measure 8,000 square feet to demonstrate the size of this rose bush. Ask students to use the information provided above to compute the following:

Create Rose Hybrids
Human beings have been breeding roses for ages. It's not difficult to do and can be an exciting process for dedicated students. Amazingly enough, it can take just 9 or 10 months before students see blossoms from their new creations. Here are a couple of links to give students some background and instruction:

Plant Breeding
How to Hybridize Roses

Students package their homemade potpourri.

Make Potpourri
Dried rose petals give potpourri both color and fragrance. The following sites offer how-to's:

Dried Flower Creations (Classroom Project)
Cut Flower Potpourri

2-D Art
Roses are the subject of thousands of works photography, drawings, and paintings. Capturing their beauty is a challenge many artists have undertaken. Have students view some examples from this poster gallery for a wide variety to compare how artists from Renoir to Dali and Ansel Adams to Georgia O’Keffe treated the subject.

Nutrition and Health

Although you won’t see rose hips in the produce department of the grocery store, rose fruit is rich in Vitamin C, making it a common ingredient in herbal teas and vitamin formulations. Rose petals and products made from them, such as rose essential oil (attar of roses) and rosewater, are edible too. You may have seen candied petals decorating cakes.

Research the healing qualities of roses.
Like many plants, roses are purported to have healing qualities -- so much so that by the 19th century, an Apothecary's Rose (Rosa gallica officinalis) was planted outside almost every druggist's shop. For centuries, rose petals have been used in concoctions to cure hangovers, wrinkles, bad digestion, sore throats, and many other ills. Visit these links to learn more.

The Apothecary's Rose
Medicinal Qualities and Health Benefits of Roses

Prepare a rose recipe.
Explore the flavor that roses impart to food and beverages by trying some of the recipe links below.
*A Special Caution: Do not consume petals sold commercially as cut flowers. Cut flowers are not bound by the same pesticide regulations as edible crops and may contain dangerous pesticide residues. Use only roses from sources where dangerous pesticides have not been used.

Overview of culinary uses
Wild Rose Recipes
Mother's Day Rose Recipes