Songfacts®:

• This song was written by Neil Young, who recorded it in 1974 for an album called Homegrown that wasn't released until 2020. He offered it to Ronstadt, who recorded a faster version with a hoedown feel. Young's rendition appeared on his 1977 compilation, Decade.
• Roses have long been used as metaphors for love, to the point where it's somewhat cliché. Neil Young's angle is that once the rose is picked from the vine, it starts to die and you'll be left with a handful of thorns. Much of his work around this time dealt with his split from the actress Carrie Snodgress, with whom he had his first child, Zeke, in 1972.
• Neil Young performed "Love Is A Rose" with different lyrics in 1971 when the song was known as "Dance Dance Dance." This version, which was not released until the 2007 compilation Live at Massey Hall 1971, had a more optimistic tone:
  
  Never thought love
  had a rainbow on it
  See the girl dance
• Ronstadt's version came together quickly, requiring about an hour of studio time. Her producer, Peter Asher, brought in David Lindley to play the fiddle and Herb Pedersen for the banjo. Kenny Edwards, who played with Ronstadt in her group The Stone Poneys, was on bass, Russ Kunkel on drums, and Andrew Gold on acoustic guitar. The harmony vocals were done by Jim Connor, who wrote the John Denver song "Grandma's Feather Bed."