Dots of wild, dots of new. Roses are never old, but they are new and no matter how long it’s been they will always be a friend and true. Memories and home come from them to you.

The wind blows and in come the memories with the familiar scent of a rose. Its not the flower I have my hand or the sunny day, but the memories from long ago that bring a smile.

Roses have almost become a symbol of love gifts and even their fragrance is known as ideal for presents. But there is so much more to these flowers than just a bouquet nicely wrapped up and given along with chocolates. Roses are memories too, their seasons vary with emotions and they will go back or go further depending on the color or time they are seen or felt or gifted.

Red roses

Peeking through flower shops its impossible to miss the red roses in intricate arrangements destined to make someone feel special, but why do the little ones climbing round the windows get ignored so often? Growing up in my grandmother’s house I had a frames of red wild roses around my window. I could trace their stem or feel them even in winter, when they wouldn’t give up and disappear just because the cold wind lashed against them. In summer and at the end of autumn waking up with their sweet scent gave me so much more energy than sleeping could. And the roses climbing on walls could only ever be red. No matter how many houses I visited in our villages the only ones that lasted just like ivy were red. Intense, vivid red.

Theres no middle trying to live and this color  couples with unique fragrance. Small, wild and free, the window roses in mountain towns will never be the ones you see in bouquets. They die instantly when plucked or cut. Their life is in getting attached to buildings, in outshining even the coldest winters and in never giving up.

The quiet, the peace and inner relaxation will always come mixed for me with glitterings of red roses among curtains. On a sunny September afternoon, with leaves blowing in the room, while the windows are guarded by roses energizing the air.

Orange roses

Not the most popular and even shunned as a color that’s not romantic, orange roses used to dot my second grandmother’s garden. They have a special season, starting from mid-August and lasting until November. My name for them was winter roses, though they never lived close to Christmas.  Orange is the color I will look for in a garden of roses. The most sensitive ones, they need extra care and more time in the sun. Taking care they don’t wilt, measuring the stems carefully after they were cut, putting them in the center of the room or on the windowsill, where they could get the most sunlight without getting burned created an indoor orange rose tradition like no other. In the end we only ever cut orange roses, spotted them in far-away villages and learned to tell the many hues that come attached to orange.

Why did we ever make a tradition of them? In the beginning they were the only ones that agreed to grow in my grandmother’s garden and it took many years to convince them to grow alongside other colors of roses. Caring for them, inspecting them and safeguarding them became a source of smiles. All the cats we have used to be careful when they stepped near them and didn’t take down a vase that had them. For as long as they lasted they added a shiny gloss to the whole garden. Orange roses can bring happiness if you take the time to get close and feel the energy they send out. Old hands, young hands, pastel nails and so many colors in between…they get blurred, but it’s always the roses withstanding everything and bringing fresh light in every corner of a room.

Yellow roses

Color of the garden roses. The circular gardens in the back yards or the ones in the mountains. Not meant to be among different flower varieties, rather just by themselves. They don’t take up a lot of space and are planted in a narrow circle, usually around the place where people have lunch outside, sit on a bench or in a swing. They form the circle of fragrant energy, giving a new tone to memories and drawing people closer. In all the years growing up the constant memory that surges is the one of running in various circles of roses. It didn’t matter if we were visiting someone, staying at home or spending time in the mountains. Yellow roses in big circles brought forth laughter, smiles, people shaking hands, hugs and positive emotions shining fresh every time the wind blew.