Rose emoji and keyboard roses
๐น (rose) has been an emoji since Unicode 6.0, and ๐ฅ (wilted flower) joined it in Unicode 9.0. Unicode has no plain text rose, so both always appear in color. The closest text characters are โ (flower) and the florette โ. ๐ is a bouquet for birthdays and thank-yous, and ๐ต๏ธ is a decorative rosette rather than a real rose.
Before emoji, people drew roses with keyboard characters: @ is the bloom, } or > the leaves around it, and dashes the stem, as in @}->--. These roses work everywhere, from plain-text SMS to old forums, because they only use basic characters.
What a rose means
A red rose ๐น is the classic sign of love and romance, which is why it shows up on Valentine's Day and anniversaries. The wilted rose ๐ฅ means the opposite: heartbreak, loss, regret or something fading away.
Traditional flower meanings, popular since Victorian times, give each color its own message: red for love, white for purity and new beginnings, yellow for friendship and pink for admiration or thanks. The rose has also been the national flower of the United States since 1986.
How to send a rose
On iPhone and Android, search the emoji keyboard for "rose". On Windows, press Windows + .; on a Mac, press Control + Command + Space. For a typed rose, copy one of the keyboard roses above.
A rose next to a heart is the simplest love note: โค๏ธ๐นโค๏ธ. Find more hearts on the heart symbol page and more blossoms on the flower symbol page. For a birthday or anniversary, pair ๐ with a cake or balloon from the birthday symbols.