Roses of Yesterday and Today:
A Brief History of Rose Cultivation

This exhibit explores the history of rose cultivation. Did you know the earliest
fossils of roses date from 35 million years ago?
  ...roses were grown throughout the classical world and were celebratred in
poetry and art?
... from China to Europe roses were grown primarily as medicinal plants during
the Middle Ages?
... with her garden at Malmaison, Napoleon's wife, the Empress Josephine,
ignited a rose fever that continues today?
...although many rose breeders have tried, no one has ever bred a blue rose?
The Science Library Exhibit examined these and other details of rose cultivation
through history.