Roses are red..? Are you kidding? They can be orange, yellow, white, pink and even blue these days, not to mention white with blood-red staining at the edges. That's because they've become the subject of the most intense gardening obsession of a garden-obsessed nation.

The national flower of England naturally has a rich symbolic history too, in heraldry, in literature and in the language of love. We look at the rose's history, from its role as bloodstained emblem of the warring houses of Lancaster and York, to its proud appearance on the white shirts of the England rugby team.