No flower in human history has carried the weight of love’s symbolism as completely and as enduringly as the rose. Across cultures, centuries, and continents, roses have been offered, planted, painted, and pressed between the pages of love letters as the universal language of the heart. Yet not all roses speak of love in the same way — color, form, fragrance, and each variety carry their own distinct romantic message.
Different shades of roses can symbolize different types of love. Red roses are the most iconic symbol of romantic love and passion. Their rich color represents strong feelings, devotion, and desire, which is why they are often given on special occasions like anniversaries and Valentine’s Day. Pink roses are often linked to admiration, sweetness, and gentle affection, making them suitable for expressing appreciation or early-stage romance. White roses, on the other hand, represent purity and sincere love, and are often used in weddings to symbolize new beginnings and lasting commitment.
Roses that Symbolize Love
Red Hybrid Tea Rose (Rosa — ‘Mr. Lincoln’)
The deepest, most universally understood symbol of passionate romantic love, the classic red Hybrid Tea Rose communicates ardent devotion with a directness that no other flower can match.
‘Mr. Lincoln’ — one of the most celebrated red roses ever bred — produces large, perfectly formed blooms of velvety deep crimson on long stems, with a rich, intoxicating damask fragrance that reinforces its romantic impact. Introduced in 1964 and still widely grown today, it remains the definitive red rose of passionate declaration.
Pink Climbing Rose (Rosa — ‘New Dawn’)
Soft pink roses have long symbolized gentle, tender love — affection that is warm and nurturing rather than fiercely passionate — and ‘New Dawn’ expresses this sentiment on the grandest possible scale. This vigorous climbing rose covers walls, arches, and pergolas in cascading clusters of soft blush-pink, sweetly fragrant blooms throughout summer and into autumn.
Declared the world’s first patented plant in 1931, it is one of the most widely planted climbing roses on Earth and one of the most romantic sights in any garden.
White Rose (Rosa — ‘Iceberg’)
White roses have carried the symbolism of pure, innocent, and true love since antiquity — the color of bridal bouquets, wedding arches, and new beginnings. ‘Iceberg’ is arguably the most successful white rose ever bred, producing abundant clusters of pure white, lightly fragrant blooms with extraordinary generosity from early summer through autumn.
Its association with sincere, faithful love — love that endures and renews itself repeatedly — has made it one of the most beloved and widely planted roses in the world for over sixty years.
Deep Red Rose (Rosa — ‘Tuscany Superb’)
Ancient Gallica roses like ‘Tuscany Superb’ carry the weight of centuries of romantic symbolism — their deep, velvety crimson-maroon blooms and intoxicating old rose fragrance representing love at its most timeless and profound.
This once-flowering old garden rose produces semi-double flowers of extraordinary richness — petals so dark they appear almost purple at the center — and its fragrance is among the most celebrated of any rose in cultivation. It is the rose of Shakespeare, of ancient Persian poetry, of love that transcends time.
Apricot Rose (Rosa — ‘Just Joey’)
Apricot and warm copper-toned roses have come to symbolize enthusiasm in love — the excitement of new feeling, the warmth of a love that radiates comfort and joy. ‘Just Joey’ is one of the most beloved and award-winning roses of the twentieth century, producing enormous, loosely ruffled blooms of warm apricot-orange with wavy petal edges and a rich, fruity fragrance.
Its generous, abundant blooming and exceptional fragrance have made it a favorite gift rose for expressing the warmth and delight of romantic feeling.
Striped Rose (Rosa — ‘Rosa Mundi’)
The ancient striped Gallica rose ‘Rosa Mundi’ — one of the oldest cultivated roses in existence — has been associated with love and legendary romance for centuries, traditionally linked to the story of Fair Rosamund, the beloved of King Henry II of England.
Its semi-double blooms of white striped and splashed with vivid crimson and pink are among the most distinctive in the rose world, and its powerful old rose fragrance adds depth to its romantic appeal. It symbolizes a love that is bold, distinctive, and impossible to forget.
Lavender Rose (Rosa — ‘Blue Moon’)
Lavender and mauve roses carry the symbolism of enchantment in love — love at first sight, the magical, unexpected quality of a feeling that arrived unannounced and altered everything.
‘Blue Moon’ is the most celebrated of the lavender Hybrid Tea roses, producing large, perfectly formed blooms of true lilac-mauve with one of the most intensely powerful fragrances of any modern rose — a rich, citrus-laced perfume that carries considerable distance. Its rare color and extraordinary scent have made it a rose of deeply romantic significance since its introduction in 1964.
Coral Rose (Rosa — ‘Dolce Vita’)
Coral roses occupy the warm, joyful territory between red’s passion and pink’s tenderness, symbolizing desire combined with admiration — love that is both ardent and deeply appreciative of the beloved’s qualities.
‘Dolce Vita’ is a modern Hybrid Tea producing elegant, high-centered blooms of glowing coral-salmon with a pleasant light fragrance and excellent stem length. Its warm, luminous color conveys the particular quality of a love that finds beauty and delight in everything about its object, making it a deeply expressive romantic gift.
Blush Damask Rose (Rosa — ‘Madame Hardy’)
Few roses in the world carry as much romantic history as the great Damask roses — ancient varieties whose fragrance has been distilled into rose oil and rose water for thousands of years of love poetry, perfume, and romantic ritual across the Middle East and Mediterranean.
‘Madame Hardy’ is widely considered the most beautiful white rose ever bred — its perfectly quartered, reflexed white blooms with a distinctive green eye in the center represent love of the most refined and exquisite character. Its fragrance is the very definition of old rose perfume.
Deep Pink Rose (Rosa — ‘Queen Elizabeth’)
Named for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her coronation in 1954, this stately Grandiflora rose produces large, high-centered blooms of clear, deep rose-pink on strong upright stems with a light, clean fragrance.
Deep pink roses carry the symbolism of gratitude in love — the particular quality of a heart that is grateful for the love it has received — as well as appreciation, admiration, and the kind of enduring devotion that deepens with time. ‘Queen Elizabeth’ remains one of the best-selling roses of all time.
Crimson Shrub Rose (Rosa — ‘Falstaff’)
David Austin’s magnificent deep crimson English rose ‘Falstaff’ produces large, densely petaled, fully quartered blooms of the richest, most velvety dark crimson-purple with an intense old rose fragrance — a rose that combines the romantic symbolism of deep red love with the added depth of mystery and devotion that purple tones have traditionally conveyed.
It represents a mature, enduring, deeply committed love — the kind that has moved beyond the first fire of passion into something richer, quieter, and more profoundly sustaining.
Yellow Rose (Rosa — ‘Graham Thomas’)
Although yellow roses in some traditions have historically symbolized friendship rather than romantic love, David Austin’s ‘Graham Thomas’ — perhaps the most celebrated of all the English roses — has given yellow a new romantic dimension entirely.
Its large, cupped, richly golden-yellow blooms carry a powerful tea rose fragrance of extraordinary quality, and its association with warmth, radiance, and the sustaining joy that the right love brings has made it a rose of genuine romantic significance. It symbolizes the love that fills life with sunshine and lasting happiness.
Pale Pink Bourbon Rose (Rosa — ‘Louise Odier’)
The Bourbon roses of the nineteenth century are among the most intensely romantic roses ever cultivated — products of an era when the language of flowers was taken with complete seriousness and every variety carried specific emotional meaning.
‘Louise Odier’ produces perfectly rounded, deeply cupped blooms of warm rose-pink with a rich, complex fragrance that is among the finest in the entire rose family. It symbolizes the kind of love that is tender and giving — love that nurtures, protects, and offers itself with quiet, unwavering consistency.
Magenta Rose (Rosa — ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’)
This ancient Gallica rose produces small, densely petaled flowers that open cerise-magenta and reflex to a remarkable smoky purple-gray at full maturity — a color transformation that represents the many-layered nature of deep romantic love.
Its compact, button-eyed, fully double blooms are among the most intricately beautiful in the old rose world, and its moderate but pleasant fragrance completes its appeal. It is a rose of love’s complexity — the acknowledgment that true romantic feeling encompasses not just passion and tenderness but also mystery, depth, and perpetual discovery.
Blush English Rose (Rosa — ‘Constance Spry’)
The first David Austin English rose ever introduced, ‘Constance Spry’ holds a legendary place in the history of romantic roses — a once-flowering climber that in early summer produces enormous, fully cupped blooms of the softest, most luminous warm pink with a uniquely beautiful myrrh fragrance unlike any other rose in cultivation.
Named after the celebrated British floral designer who helped define the aesthetic of romantic, abundant, softly beautiful floral arrangement, it represents love in its fullest, most generous expression — overflowing, unconditional, and breathtakingly beautiful.