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The art of growing roses is an ancient one. Rose plants flourish in many different areas around the world. Perhaps one of the oldest known evidence of the rose was an imprint found in a slate deposit in Florissant, Colorado. The imprint is about 40,000 years old. There are at least 35 species of rose that are native to the United States.

Many roses in the U.S., however, had their ancestors arrive with European immigrants. Roses were formally cultivated in Greece as far back as 600 B.C., or perhaps even earlier. Wreaths made from roses have been found in Egyptian tombs. In the middle ages, they were highly prized as part of an herbalist's medical resources, as well as providing both rose petals and rose hips to be made into sweets. These hearty early roses grew out of doors, bloomed in season, and required little coddling.

Josephine Bonaparte, wife of Napoleon, kept rose gardens. She had 250 different roses, imported from a variety of places. The tea rose, which for a long time was grown only in greenhouses and shelter gardens, was brought to Europe from China.

The first settlers brought roses from Europe; but the native people already planted roses around their villages to make them beautiful. Rose bush starts, carefully wrapped in burlap traveled with farmers seeking fertile ground as they traveled west. Some of them have gone wild, even becoming pests, while native roses