No flower has achieved such popularity through the ages as the rose - yet little is really known about its origins and development until this century. A thousand myths have flourished and gardening correspondent Graham Rose and historian Peter King have undertaken the major task of disentangling truth from fiction. This sumptuously illustrated work, an inspiration and reference for all rose lovers, goes back to original sources. It enquires where the rose came from and why it became a symbol for love and a name for women; it tells the story of its adoption for religious rites, and of the men and women who helped endow this originally simple flower with the romantic power it enjoys today. Writers, artists, sculptors and musicians have adapted the rose to th eir own purposes. Some, like Redoute, lived at a historical moment when, with the support of the Empress Josephine, the rose was moving into a new era of popularity. Others revived the rose as a symbol of death or sexual decay: the book explores the motivation for their new directions. Cultural history is interwoven with the botanical reality. The roses which the artists adopted as models are described and illustrated in detail; the reasons for the rise and fall of certain species are explained. The rose has also had its more practical uses through the ages - as food, drink, perfume, medicine. Again this book goes back to original soures to demonstrate why the Greeks, the Romans and early churchmen chose the rose for their curious purposes. It also describes the motivation and skills of the growers and the breeders who turned the rose from a simple flower to a giant commercial venture. Most rose books are divided into history followed by description. This is the first book to weave the two together, to highlight the flower against the backdrop of human achievement and to answer the intriguing question: why is the rose romantic?...