Why is the rose the flower of Love?

A wealth of stories about the rose have been handed down from generation to generation, tales for which we cannot really find the beginnings, but the telling goes on and on. Perhaps the story of the rose, as told in Greek legend, best explains the origin of the rose and its affiliation with romantic and special secret things in all our lives. Greek legend says that early one morning as Flora, goddess of all flowers, was walking through the woods, she came upon the dead body of a beautiful young girl. Flora was saddened to see such a lovely creature dead, and she decided to give her new life by transforming her into the most beautiful of all flowers. To accomplish this, she called on all the gods of Olympia to aid her in the task. She asked her husband, Zephyrus, the west wind, to blow away all the clouds so that Apollo, the sun, could send warm rays of blessings over the dead form. Flora then called Aphrodite to give beauty and the three graces (brilliance, joy and charm) to this new ...  more