Facts About Roses

A dozen roses can be the language of love. Here, 12 fun facts about rose bouquets.
By: Rose Kennedy

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What is it about a beautiful, romantic bouquet of roses that brings out the accountant in all of us? Hardly anyone can remember the precise amount of the national debt, but at least 92 percent of women can remember the last time they received flowers, and some 56 percent of those blooms would be roses. No matter if you'll be giving or hope to be receiving, here are a dozen freshly picked facts and figures about rose bouquets you can count on:

180 million: estimated number of roses produced for the floral industry for Valentine's Day 2005

64: percentage of fresh roses purchased that are red, followed by pink (11 percent), mixed colors (10 percent), peach or salmon (5 percent), yellow (4 percent), white (3 percent) and other (3 percent)

74: percentage of roses bought by men

32: of rose purchases made by women, the percentage sent to their mothers

24: of rose purchases made by women, the percentage sent to husband or significant other, followed by purchases made for themselves (22 percent) and daughter (16 percent) or friend (14 percent)

20: years that Joe DiMaggio sent six red roses to the crypt of his deceased former wife, Marilyn Monroe, three times each week

3-5: blooms that are sacrificed on a rose bush to allow a single long-stem rose to grow.

6: roses in a bouquet to symbolize infatuation

3: roses in a bouquet to symbolize a couple and their shared love for a traditional one-month anniversary gift

20 - 60: minutes to submerge whole droopy roses underwater in a sink or bathtub (after trimming about an inch from the stems) in the hopes of reviving them

80: degrees F, the highest temperature roses should ever be displayed at; they'll last longest in a cool area

121: years since Kate Greenaway's Language of Flowers was first published in 1885, specifying the meaning of deep red roses to be "bashful shame," white roses "I am worthy of you," red rosebuds "pure and lovely," and yellow "decrease of love" or "jealousy"! Today the yellow rose indicates friendship, joy and caring, and the red is a universal symbol of passionate love.

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