Ahhh, Roses!

Not long after John and I started dating, he showed up at my door one evening with a bundle of thorny sticks with dirt and burlap.

He had that expression on his face that my cat sometimes gets when she's extremely pleased with herself, so I knew there had to be more to this than a bundle of sticks with dirt and burlap.

Well, I planted that bundle of sticks in a whiskey barrel and it turned into a beautiful red Mr. Lincoln rose that has bloomed more magnificently every year since then, and has followed us to our new house, where it has been joined by 5 other Mr. Lincoln roses that line our sidewalk strip. I have a vase of roses on my desk nearly every day from June until it freezes every year.

So, things are not always what they seem and roses are definitely more than they appear.

In the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown explores the geometry of roses as a five-pointed star multiplied a number of times. All roses have a petal structure that opens from this structure. (If you look at a rose, you'll see that they have five sepals, or green leaflike parts that cover the bud when it's new. These sepals open to reveal the eventual structure.) Although some roses seem to go on forever and have an infinite number of petals, they all multiply (or divide) down to this simple five-point structure.

The scent of roses is unmistakable. The next few posts will be devoted to our favorite "rosy" fragrances.