Eleanor Roosevelt: "I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered," ..."But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: no good in bed, but fine up against a wall."
So advised Gertrude Stein--probably about the only thing she is widely remembered for, despite the best efforts of Alice Toklas, who engraved the words onto the edges of decorative plates--presumably when she wasn't cooking up cannabis brownies.
June is reckoned as Rose Month, and not only for those of European descent. The Algonkian tribes of northeastern North America called it the Rose Full Moon Month. But our fascination with roses commences far earlier in time and away.
The Minoan civilization on the Mediterranean island of Crete persisted from about 3500-1400 B.C. before succumbing to a massive eruption on a nearby Aegean volcano. Surviving rooms in the palaces had decorative friezes depicting, among other subjects--roses.
