This is a lovely little book by Allen Paterson, an experienced horticulturalist, who trained at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, and is now the director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Ontario, Canada.
The book features numerous colored illustrations, and contains chapters on the history of the rose, rose gardens, the rose in botany and medicine, and the rose in poetry. The chapters on history begin from antiquity to end in modern times!
According to legend, the rose springs from the blood of the Goddess Aphrodite. While running to meet her lover Adonis, Aphrodite stumbles on a thorn: her blood runs down to earth to produce the beautiful flower!
The rose is sacred both to Aphrodite and to the Virgin Mary, the rose and Queen of Heaven!
If you want to hear a beautiful 1970s (psychedelic) Greek song about a white rose, copy paste this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36NAcFRORpA
Άσπρο μου Ρόδο, means My own white rose in Greek, and the performer is the fabled Greek singer Marinella!
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