THERE are many things we should be glad to see pass from the Victorian times such as the workhouse being replaced with a welfare state and today’s advancement in medical treatments.

But one thing the Victorians were very good at was their knowledge and the cultivation of roses.

The Victorians assigned symbolic meanings to flowers with many having been in knowledge from ancient times.

We once communicated through the language of flowers, both sexes consulted dictionaries to choose and interpret the appropriate flowers to send, wear and display.

Different rose colours provided different meanings. That mania for flower dictionaries may have also passed but a fascination with flower symbolism and the rose in particular still remains.

The red rose is one everyone knows and is regarded to mean passion and the desire for love all of us incurable romantics need.

While a white rose stands for a fascination and new beginning that is often found at weddings and funerals.

A yellow rose stands for platonic friendship, to cheer up or congratulate a close friend.

A pink rose is more versatile, they can be used on almost every occasion.

A pale pink rose is a good choice for the beginning of a romance while becoming a darker shade as a romance becomes more established.

Historically, the red rose was associated with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.

Myth holds that when her lover, Adonis, was wounded, she pricked her foot on the thorns of a white rose in her haste to run to him.

Her blood stained the roses red, turning the red rose into a symbol of incredible passion and romantic devotion.

MIKE FRY Moorland Crescent, Upton