The value roses give is unmatched by any other plant

Does anything say ‘I love you’ like a bunch of red roses? says Peter Dowdall.

St Valentine’s Day has become synonymous with love and romance and was first celebrated as a Christian feast day for the Roman martyr, Valentinus.

Legend has it that the soon-to-become, St Valentine wrote a letter to the daughter of his captor, Asterius before he was executed and is said to have signed off with: ‘Your Valentine’.

The tradition was born but the association with flowers, and in particular roses, dates to a time of courtly love and medieval poetry.

Later in the 18th and 19th century English poets and writers developed on the symbolism and in a time of great inhibition and prohibitions, used flowers as a secret language for love — to give the object of your affections a rose was to say ‘I love you’.

And from a gardener’s point of view it seems a bit strange that the rose is a symbol of a day in February when the plant is nowhere near flowering and instead looks a bit sad, bereft and thorny — or maybe that’s more of a reason for the association?

Roses symbolise different things depending on colour but red is true love. I adore roses as a garden plant and have stood up for them for years in the face of claims that they are high maintenance.

I want to state categorically that roses are not difficult plants to grow and the value they give in terms of flower is unmatched by any other plant that I can think of. Many varieties will blossom throughout the summer, even holding onto a few blooms up to the end of December.

I have a lovely variety of patio rose called ‘Baby Masquerade’ growing as a mini standard and it produced its first flower in April 7, 2014 and I still had some blooms on Christmas Day.

‘Ah but you know what you’re doing,’ I hear you retort, but believe me, my little mini standard received no attention whatsoever, except the removal of a few dead flower heads when I thought of it. Garden design, like all areas of design, is constantly changing with trends coming and going and the old tradition of planting a rose bed is no longer the case, except for the great and the grand gardens.

Most of us now feel free enough and brave enough to mix roses in with other shrubs and herbaceous, as we should.

However if you have the space it’s lovely to establish a rose garden with the different colours representing the different types of love and indeed all the different emotions that they represent.

If however, you are more a fan of mixed planting then why not create a ‘Love Garden’ and incorporate all plants associated with love in all its forms.

For me, picking a favourite rose is a bit like asking a parent to pick a favourite child, but two red roses that for me are a must are ‘Trumpeter’ and ‘Ruby Wedding’ and that’s before I even look at the David Austin varieties.

Red as I say is the colour for true love but pure, innocent or even secret love is associated with the white rose. ‘Iceberg’ is one of the finest white flowers but I have given up on it, as it is too prone to blackspot and the ensuing leaf drop. A much better choice is ‘Margaret Merrill’.

And there’s something special about yellow roses, but the symbolism isn’t great as they can mean anything from jealousy or a broken heart, to extreme betrayal. What colour bouquet did you receive today?

Unless the symbolism stops you, then one of the finest yellow forms to plant is a David Austin variety ‘Golden Celebration’ which can be either a shrub or a climber. Thornless roses are said to mean love at first sight, ‘Zephrine Drouhin’ is a beautiful, very free flowering climbing rose with not a thorn in sight.

Other plants associated with love include Jasmine, (which symbolises love in Hinduism), and Acacia or Mimosa represent secret love and are a very welcome addition to any garden, provided you give them a south or west-facing sheltered wall.

If you are trying to woo a potential Valentine then avoid Daffodils or any of the Narcissi as not surprisingly, considering the name, they are associated with selfishness.

Enjoy today wherever you are and whoever you are with and if your Valentine is a secret admirer or admired in secret, or your partner, or maybe your Valentine is now departed, don’t forget to take time out, in the peacefulness of the garden, admire the roses and contemplate which colour you should give and should receive.