• 10"x 8" image size (12"x 10" paper size) / 200 prints / 14"x 18" matting size
• available as a Matted Card scene.

The rose has been grown and appreciated for its fragrance and beauty since ancient times and is the most popular and widely cultivated garden flower. Worldwide in distribution, the more than 20,000 varieties of cultivated rose are carefully bred for qualities such as number and shape of petals.

Some are cultivated in their natural form or as various similar cultivars, but most of the more than 20,000 cultivars are the result of careful hybridization and selection from a few species. The classification of cultivated roses is complicated, because of the great numbers of cultivars and the amount of artificial hybridization.

The cultivars are classed either as old roses (plants with no new varieties having been introduced in the past 60 years) or as contemporary roses (plants that are currently being hybridized and selected for new forms). Several hundred new contemporary rose cultivars are introduced each year. In the U.S., about 20 million rose plants are commercially cultivated annually for cut flowers with another 40 million plants produced for landscape and ornamental use.

Roses may be grown in any good, well-drained soil. Although different varieties respond better to certain soil and climate than others, clay soils are favored, warm temperatures always preferred, and the plants grow best when not set among other plants. Cow manure is the preferred fertilizer, but other organic fertilizers, especially composts, may also be used. The plants usually require severe pruning, which must be adapted to the intended use of the flowers. Most rose varieties are grown by budding on an understock (lower portion of a plant) propagated from seeds or cuttings. Roses must be sprayed frequently with insect poisons and fungicides.