Roses by Color

While the concept of assigning symbolic meaning to flowers has existed since ancient times, the popularity of communicating through the “language of flowers” peaked in the Western world during the Victorian era. Both men and women consulted “flower dictionaries” to choose and interpret the appropriate flowers to send, wear, and display. Flowers were given meaning based on both their species and their color. So while the rose in general is a symbol of love, different rose colors provided different shades of meaning. The red rose is a symbol of beauty, passion, desire, and romantic love. White rose symbolizes innocence, chastity, and purity. It’s also associated with spirituality, reverence, and new beginnings. The yellow rose most commonly means friendship—and specifically platonic friendship. Pink roses symbolize admiration, gentleness, dignity, elegance, innocence, and happiness. Orange roses are best for romantic occasions. Purple roses symbolize enchantment and the mystical. Green roses symbolize peace, spiritual rejuvenation, calm, and fertility. Blue roses symbolize the unattainable and the mysterious. True black roses can only be obtained through dyeing. Black roses symbolize death, rebirth, and goodbye.