The rose has always been treasured for its beauty and has a long history of symbolism. The ancient Greeks and Romans identified the rose with their goddesses of love referred to as Aphrodite and Venus. Romans placed a wild rose at the door of a room where secret or private matters were discussed.
Classification of roses can be quite difficult because many modern roses have old garden roses in their ancestry and their form varies so much.
The favourite rose for much of the history of modern roses, hybrid teas were initially created by hybridizing Hybrid Perpetuals with Tea roses in the late 1800s.The hybrid tea remains the standard rose of the floral industry.
Floribunda class roses; an offspring cross of Hybrid Teas are similar, and can visually be confused with the Hybrid Teas. Rose breeders quickly saw the value in crossing polyanthas with hybrid teas, to create roses that bloomed with the polyantha profusion, but with hybrid tea floral beauty and color range.
The bi-color roses are perhaps the most beautiful of the variations of roses bred today, rangin from a combination of hybrid families bred over the ages. Selected as favourites for flowers arrangements used at large events, weddings, ceremonies, parades because of their vivid colours. One of the most stunning colour combination is the yellow rose with red edges, these roses are commonly known as Circus, Konfetti, Flamenco and Feria roses. They are all very similar, in fact, they are frequently mistaken with each other. Even a trained eye would have difficulty deciphering the differences. Typically, the differences are genetic, making it invisible to the naked eye. The genetic make-up of these different classes of roses are very close to the only method of distinction. Within the classifications of Circus, Konfetti, Flamenco and Feria roses, come several types within its class. There are over 8 types of Circus roses, 3 types of Konfetti roses, 4 types of Flamenco and 3 types of Feria roses, all ranging in colour dissemination of yellow to red edging. Factors affecting the colour distribution can range from environmental factors, nutrition, temperature, exposure, etc. Genetic mutations, known as “sports” can also contribute to the colour distinction of roses.
Here are 4 pictures, identified by professional rose breeders as to their class, all 4 are different and are either Circus, Konfetti, Feria or Flamenco roses, can you tell which one is which?
Hardly, they almost look identical, and their descriptions are virtually identical, however their genetic composition are different. Here are several useful sites, with further information on families and varieties of roses
http://www.sierraflowerfinder.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose
Answers, from right to left- Feria, Flamenco, Circus, Konfetti
