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The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. (202 677 0441 / textilemuseum.org), devoted exclusively to the handmade textile arts with a collection of more than seventeen thousand rugs and textiles dating from 3,000 BC to the present.

Additionally, see “A Global Guide to Islamic Art,” January/February 2009 Saudi Aramco World, saudiaramcoworld.com; click on Indexes.

The Turkish Rose

FERGUS GARRETT

SURPRISINGLY PERHAPS, Turkey has more than twenty native species of rose, and in this piece the author details the ways in which this intoxicatingly beautiful flower so prominently figures in Turkish life.

FERGUS GARRETT is the head gardener at the Great Dixter House & Gardens in East Sussex, England. The manor house at Great Dixter—with one of the largest surviving timber-framed halls in the country—was built in the mid-1400s and, more recently, was the longtime home of famous British gardener Christopher Lloyd. Garrett is now at the helm of the gardens, which by all accounts have been deemed extraordinary.

IN ONE way or another, the rose is featured in many of the wonderful stories associated with love and romance in Turkish history, lore, and myth, relayed over the centuries by poets and historians. The rose is the essence of purity, sweetness, and femininity. An admiring lover will often affix the word gül (meaning “rose”) to his sweetheart’s name as a term of affection. He may describe her complexion as being as fair as a rose, or her skin as being soft as a rose petal. Dreaming of roses signifies an improvement in one’s love life, health, and general well-being. Rose petals were stuffed into silken mattresses for the ultimate seductive experience. But love never comes without a price, and romance and tragedy often go hand in hand in Turkish lore. One old saying particularly comes to mind: “You cannot pluck roses without the fear of thorns, nor enjoy a fair wife without the danger of horns.”

Along with the carnation and the tulip, the rose is an important flower in Turkish art and culture. Rose motifs are found on the garments of the sultans, on Iznik pottery, on carpets, and on copperware. Roses also feature prominently in Turkey’s rich and varied cuisine. For centuries the rose’s delightful scent has been captured by infusing petals in water, oil, honey, and sugar to flavor drinks, puddings, and sweets. The tradition lives on today, most notably in the rose flavoring of Turkish delight.

Turkey, rich in plants generally, has over twenty native species of rose. This includes Rosa gallica, the ancestor of many beautiful garden hybrids, as well as culinary roses such as the damasks that are so popular in Turkish kitchens. Rosa gallica was named by Linnaeus, who assumed that it had originated in Roman Gaul. In fact, the species stretches from Central to Southern Europe through to Iraq. It is found throughout Turkey in dry meadows and maquis, in dunes, and sometimes on pure sand. A low shrub growing up to three feet with stiff, upright, densely prickled stems, and dull, bluish-green leaves, Rosa gallica bears masses of strongly scented, deep-pink, solitary flowers followed by scarlet-orange hips. Naturally occurring hybrids of this rose are distributed throughout Europe and Western Asia.

Although Rosa gallica has a fainter scent than the damask roses, its petals possess the amazing virtue of retaining fragrance even after they wither. This means that they can be dried and made into scented powder, and then used in salves, oils, and rose-scented waters. Thought to possess many medicinal properties, rose potions are frequently referred to in ancient texts. Military doctors took Rosa gallica on campaigns, planting it whenever possible. With the ability to produce copious amounts of seed, sucker underground, and tolerate extremes of heat and cold in different habitats, the highly fertile gallica thrived in military outposts, monasteries, and gardens, spreading throughout the East and Europe. Selection and breeding gave rise to many variants. A highly fragrant, semi-double form of the