Beautiful Book, Essential Information
If the striking close-up of a pink bloom on the cover of this book doesn’t draw you in, the promise of its subtitle will: Growing Roses Organically: Your Guide to Creating an Easy-Case Garden Full of Fragrance and Beauty, and that kind of information and inspiration is just what you’ll find in this lovely volume by Barbara Wilde. The book opens with a nice discussion of the history of roses and differentiates among classes and groups of roses in some informative, easily-understood charts. The next chapter covers a number of important points about choosing and buying appropriate roses, especially healthy ones. Information about planting follows and includes advice about selecting a site and evaluating and correcting the soil. Then come Wilde’s expert tips for planting and establishing roses in pots, in your garden, and even in the middle of your lawn. There’s a short, helpful chapter on watering, and a longer one of fertilizing roses—organically, of course—that’s filled with useful, unusual information. The lengthy chapter on pruning also covers training rose bushes and includes photos, drawings, and steps that illustrate just about every kind of pruning that a rose-grower could need. Wilde’s discussion of diseases is thorough and includes charts as well as advice for preventing problems and then dealing with them. After that, there’s another helpful chapter that covers pest problems, preventative measures, and treatments, including organic insecticides. Both of these chapters, like many of the others, include charts that clearly and concisely explain options for the issues as well as solutions. Almost one third of the Growing Roses Organically is dedicated to Wilde’s description of the roses that she recommends for growing organically—the ones she describes as “the top all-around performers.” Her rose gallery organizes the varieties by their size and includes basic details about the rose bushes (such as their overall size and uses) as well as alternate names, lively descriptions, and photographs of lush, lovely blossoms. The book concludes with full-length chapters on often-overlooked topics, such as adding roses to a mixed border, creating a wild garden or one for wildlife, and using roses for hedges. All of these chapters include a variety of features (such as photos, charts, diagrams, and design plans) that illustrate Wilde’s suggestions adeptly. After reading this book, it’s easy to feel confident about growing beautiful roses and being able to do so organically. There’s a lot of information in here, so it’s the kind of guidebook to read—and even re-read—over the winter as you plan your garden. Growing Roses Organically is a beauty of a resource that should be on all rose-lovers’ own shopping lists, just in case they don’t make it to Santa’s nice list. It’s also available at the Irondequoit and Brockport-Seymour libraries. If this sounds like your kind of book, then we might be your kind of people. Why not put the Greater Rochester Rose Society on your calendar for 2019? We’ll start meeting on the first Tuesday again in March, and visitors are always welcome to join us for the program, conversation, and refreshments.
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A Workout for Serious Rosarians
As the 2018 growing season is coming to an end in Western New York, you might be thinking of buying a few rose bushes on sale at a local garden center, or you might already be considering what to order for next spring. In addition, if you’ve been inspired by the recent rose shows in our area, you might want to plant some varieties that have particularly attractive qualities. If you’re serious about choosing your roses, Modern Roses 12 is the book for you. At something like ten pounds, this volume will provide a workout not only for your brain, but also for your upper body, which is always good for anyone who enjoys working in the garden. Encyclopedic in nature, Modern Roses is owned by a few home gardeners, only rose societies that sponsor shows, and only a few public libraries for that matter. It’s a database that identifies and describes every rose in cultivation as of the time of publication, of course. Unfortunately, each volume, like this latest one from 2007, becomes more and more outdated each year as new roses are introduced. However, it’s still a valuable resource for learning more about our old favorites. Modern Roses is the definitive source for the correct approved exhibition name (AEN) for roses entered in rose shows held under the auspices of the American Rose Society (ARS). That means the volume is primarily used by judges at rose shows when they are determining whether or not a rose is correctly identified. Rose show aficionados know that blooms that are improperly identified are disqualified. Those of us who “inherited” rose bushes when we bought our homes know that figuring out what we’ve got blooming in our yards can be a real challenge. Accordingly, it would be helpful if all rose societies, garden clubs, and Master Gardener programs invested in the latest edition of Modern Roses since the public turns to these kinds of organizations for answers to their gardening questions. In addition, this comprehensive volume is meant for serious rose growers, hybridizers, and bibliophiles with large rose-gardening libraries. Reading it will increase your knowledge, while carrying it from room to room will increase your strength. While our Rose Society owns a copy of the 11th edition of this book, and it’s available for members’ use, Modern Roses 12 isn’t among the holdings of any of the branches of the Monroe County Library System. However, it can be borrowed through interlibrary loan for a fee of $5. Much of this month’s book review comes courtesy of the president of The Greater Rochester Rose Society. A Guide that Offers Both Quantity and Quality
If your rose bushes look anything like mine after such a brutal summer, you’ll understand why I’ve been reading Roses for Dummies. Although I was unsure of what to expect, I’ve been quite surprised by both the quantity and quality of the information it contains. With its comical cover and textbook-like interior, this “reference for the rest of us,” as it’s billed, is much more helpful than some more attractive, more cultured volumes. Written by Lance Walheim (who’s described as a horticultural consultant and experienced gardener) and the editors of the National Gardening Association, the guide includes everything a novice rose-grower will need. What’s more, Roses for Dummies (which, needless to say, is another edition in the series of books that readers either love or hate) covers topics and includes details that other more sophisticated books leave out. If you want to get started with roses, expand what you have, or correct what’s going wrong, Roses for Dummies is for you. Much of the guide’s features are designed so the book can serve as a quick reference for readers. It has not one but two versions of the table of contents; the second of which is more detailed, so you can flip to the exact page you need to consult. Most of the chapters are short, are filled with numerous sections with their own headings, and have symbols to indicate text that includes things like warnings or sources. All of which help the reader hone in on what he or she needs at the moment. Many of the topics, like the history and botany of the rose, are briefly introduced early on in the guide, and then explained in greater detail in later chapters. Throughout, there are black and white drawings that do an excellent job of illustrating the topics or techniques discussed. Another quite useful feature is how a lot of the information is categorized and itemized in lists, lists, and more lists. For example, each of the chapters on the groups of roses includes lists of those roses by color, so if you fancy a multicolored floribunda, you can easily learn more about their suggestions, including Judy Garland and Scentimental. The book includes numerous definitions of jargon like substance and blend, cartoons that tickle a gardener’s funny bone, and language (like the expression recently used) that is frequently relaxed and light-hearted as in the heading about roses for “Spring Break vacation spots,” which others would have typically described as The South. Of course, the guide includes chapters on the basics of growing roses, and most provide a healthy amount of knowledgeable instruction. In addition, the book offers chapters on topics—like fragrance, climate, and container-growing—that are often glossed over in other supposedly more expert references. The chapter on landscaping, for example, explains things like planting for function (such as to create hedges) as well as for aesthetics by combing roses with other plants (to cover gangly stems) or planting white flowers (to create a moonlight garden). In the middle of all this information, are about 30 color-coded pages with full-color illustrations of individual roses grouped by their color. Most are close-up shots of lush blossoms, while a few pages show rose bushes in various landscape settings. All of the pictures show us exactly what is explained in the accompanying captions. Before the hearty appendix appears, there are also discussions of more topics that are often overlooked, like cuttings and sports, as well as unexpected but useful sections specifically on the important topics of nitrogen and phosphorus and potassium. The chapters on the usual topics of pruning and pests and diseases are unusually long and informative, so they not only cover the basics, but they also go into extensive detail on these topics. Published in 1997, with a second edition in 2000, Roses for Dummies is right for all rose lovers. Whether you’re just starting out and need lots of information, or you’re an experienced rose-grower looking for a new tip, this book has something for everyone. Roses for Dummies is available at the Brockport-Seymour, Central, Charlotte, Fairport, Lyell, Parma, and Pittsford libraries. If you’re in the Rochester area and need help with your roses, please join us at one of our upcoming meetings. We get together year round because we love roses and we enjoy helping each other grow the best ones possible. This one's a quite readable resource.
If this wasn’t the authoritative book on roses in its time, it certainly must have come close, for The Rose Bible thoroughly covers everything we need to know about growing healthy roses in Rochester, New York—or any other place for that matter. In addition, it offers descriptions of what was dubbed “fifty immortal roses” by the author Rayford Clayton Reddell, who grew roses professionally and shared his first-hand knowledge in several other books about them. Another sign of the work’s importance is the person who wrote the conversational foreword: Martha Stewart, who was not only a domestic doyenne of her day, but also a well-educated and experienced gardener herself. Reddell, too, has a conversational, easy style and, in the preface, explains his love affair with roses as well as his intentions for this book “that roses will be grown by everyone…” Perhaps that’s why we members of the Greater Rochester Rose Society consider this one of our favorite books on roses, even though we’ve added more recent titles to our home libraries. Reddell’s tome was originally published in 1994 by Harmony Books and again in 1998 by Chronicle Books, which makes it another oldie but a goodie as far as we’re concerned. The Rose Bible begins with a detailed discussion of the evolution of the rose including European, American, Middle Eastern, and Oriental Asian species. Then it discusses in some detail antique roses to 1799 such as Gallicas, Damasks, Albas, Centifolias, and Mosses. Next is the informative chapter of what Reddell calls “the rose revolution” between 1799-1867, when repeated blooming China roses took Europe by storm and new families of roses were developed: the Chinas, Portlands, Bourbons, Hybrid Perpetuals, and Teas. Throughout The Rose Bible, there are not quite as many photographs of individual roses as there are descriptive passages of roses, yet the photos of luscious blooms and clusters are simply glorious. In addition, many of the roses depicted are in beautiful shades of pink like the ones on the cover of the 1998 edition. Reddell’s chapter on Modern Roses provides more information than what’s usually found in similar books and offers full paragraphs about dozens of Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Grandifloras, Miniatures, and English Roses. The next section describes what the author calls “famous cousins” and again provides detailed profiles of numerous Rugosas, Noisettes, Polyanthas, Hybrid Musks, and Shrub Roses. Then, Rambling Roses, Climbers, and Ground Covers receive their own chapter filled with more of Reddell’s descriptive summaries as well as more of Robert Galyean’s gorgeous photos. Then comes Reddell’s directory of 50 roses that he has learned have “already stood, or show all likelihood of standing, the test of time.” Each of these roses is covered on its own page and is shown in a large photo and is discussed in great detail. Among the author’s choices that are our local favorites, too, are Altissimo, Angel Face, Bonica, Cecile Brunner, Dainty Bess, Double Delight, Fragrant Cloud, Gold Medal, Heritage, Iceberg, Just Joey, Medallion, Mister Lincoln, New Dawn, Peace, Queen Elizabeth, and Sally Holmes. Afterward, Reddell provides the instruction on how to give roses like these the best chance in our own gardens. His chapter on buying roses recommends bare root roses, explains grading, discusses suppliers and catalogs, and lists All-American rose winners. Then, his thorough lessons on planting cover the plant itself, its preparation, the site, and the soil among other topics. The section on maintaining roses throughout the year follows and covers—again in extensive detail—such aspects as mulching, raised beds, and the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of fertilizers. Typically overlooked topics like finger pruning, blind growth, and unwanted growth are also fully discussed. Spraying for diseases and insects is explained as are the chemicals most often used. Reddell then includes a delightful chapter on “harvesting” roses, which includes the tools and timing and locations for cutting as well as the techniques for making cut flowers last. The author offers a lengthy discussion of pruning, including timing and tools, as well as specific directions for pruning Modern Roses, Species and Antique roses, Climbing and Rambling roses, and Standards. Then more unexpected information follows: a full chapter on propagating roses as well as one on zonal differences around the U.S., their conditions, some recommendations, and appropriate care, which is especially useful with our climate here in Western New York. One shorter chapter examines “Roses in the Garden” (including companion planting and roses in containers), while another specifically covers “Climbing Roses” (including pillars, supports, and training). Equally important, both chapters are illustrated with particularly lovely photographs of the topics discussed. In the final chapter, Reddell gives his thoughts on what were then newer aspects in rose development, such as landscape roses, disease resistance, and fragrance. Before the instructive glossary and extensive list of sources, Reddell closes The Rose Bible with an epilogue that is just as personal, conversational, and narrative as his preface. From beginning to end, this informative work is a joy to read. Rayford Clayton Reddell’s most readable resource, The Rose Bible, is available at the Monroe, Penfield, and Webster libraries. For more about gardening with roses, why not consider joining us at our monthly meetings? Our programs are interesting, the refreshments plentiful, and the company convivial, and you’d be more than welcome to join us. Enjoyable Enough to Be a Summer Read
If rose lovers have any time to relax in July or August, this well-written book deserves to be on their summer reading list. Stephen Scanniello, whose credits include being the rosarian of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, has written a book that is descriptive and informative as well as entertaining, which makes it an all-around good read. Unlike most of our favorite books about roses, this one doesn’t have any photographs at all—not one, not even on the front cover—and that means the writing needs to be as fine as the content, and it definitely is. As the title suggests, Scanniello provides a month-by-month narrative that fully describes the things that need to be done to have beautiful, healthy rose bushes. In each chapter of A Year of Roses, the author recounts memorable incidents in the Cranford Rose Garden, including conversations with visitors and encounters with critters. In between these anecdotes, and in an easy, conversational style, Scanniello explains what tasks need doing and how and when to do them. He covers all the usual topics, including buying, planting, and pruning roses, and does so in page after page of text that is both educational and engaging. For example, the information for the month of February includes Scanniello’s easygoing discussion of pruning, which he calls a year-round task. To help the reader decide which roses benefit from what kind of pruning and when, he also includes some questions and his thoughtful answers:
Such a combination of technical detail and informal writing makes the book so easy to read that a reader might forget that there are many lessons to be learned. A serious reader might want to sit down with a pack of self-stick notes to flag the places to reread later for their practical advice. In addition, to offering the author’s professional knowledge and advice, the book includes nicely rendered line drawings that clearly depict things like dead-heading repeat bloomers, methods of training climbers and ramblers, and different places of bud unions. The clear illustrations of how to cover and protect planted roses, swagged canes, and standards, or tree roses, are particularly helpful. As expected, the chapters vary in length because the number of tasks to be done in the garden differs from month to month. The content varies, too, since some chapters include more explanatory information than others about topics like Old Garden Roses and modern ones. In addition, each chapter ends with the author’s recommendations for organizations to join—such as the American Rose Society—or books to read—such as The Organic Rose Garden by Liz Druitt or Easy Care Roses, which Scanniello edited. What makes the reading so easy is that these informative sections are not presented one after another (as they are in most gardening books), but instead the instructional passages appear in the month, or rather the chapter, where it makes sense for them to be discussed, which makes each chapter worth rereading at least once a year. Stephen Scanniello’s informative and enjoyable book, A Year of Roses, is certainly worth reading, and it’s available at the Brighton and Greece libraries. If you have a suggestion for month-by-month rose gardening in the Rochester area, please click on "Comments" and leave a reply. If you'd like to learn more about what tasks GRRS members tackle each month in their rose gardens, why not join us at one of our meetings? Visitors are always welcome. If you’re expanding your garden this year, you’ll want to read this book before buying any more roses, for what an informative book it is!
This paperback guide not only instructs us on a new way of growing rose bushes—without as many pesticides and fungicides—but Roses without chemicals also introduces us to a large number of unique roses including ones bred for their heartiness, fragrance, and beauty. Peter Kukielski compiled this book based on his research and professional experience, which includes being the curator of the celebrated Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden for seven years. The book is filled with the author’s first-hand knowledge, and its premise is simple: Choose disease-resistant roses, and have better gardens with less work and fewer chemicals. That alone makes this book a must-read before investing in any more roses, which are plentiful at garden centers this time of year. The book includes a description of what Kukielski calls the “new millennial rose garden” that features “greener” and more sustainable roses as well as a brief history of the rose and the development of its groups (species, heritage, modern) and their numerous classes. Better still, Kukielski itemizes his favorite roses by class in 10 or more handy lists, which could easily become our own shopping lists. He provides a brief but useful description of how different rose bushes grow as well as equally useful line drawings that show the different shapes of the mature plants, which helps us decide where to plant our roses and how to design our gardens. His lengthy discussion of using roses in the garden covers topics like growing roses vertically, in containers, and in small spaces, and it’s accompanied by a helpful chart of 50 companion plants and their characteristics. Among Kukielski’s favorites for containers are Coral, Peach, and Pink Drift, Easy Does It, Flower Carpet Amber, Julia Child, and The Fairy. The author also discusses and recommends roses for each region of the country. Among his suggestions for the Northeast are Crimson Meidiland, Poseidon, and the Knock Out series. Best of all, throughout the book, all of Kukielski’s information is illustrated with stunning photos of gorgeous, colorful roses whose scents are easy to imagine. His chapter on “Growing roses sustainably” covers: • the basics of buying, planting, pruning, and feeding roses; • the necessities of sun, air, soil, water, drainage, and mulch; • and some options for treating diseases and pests, including an unusually lengthy discussion of both predatory insects as well as pesky ones and some “control measures.” His discussion of pruning is more detailed than usual and also offers useful advice for both winter and summer pruning. Then we come to the longest and most significant section of the work: Kukielski’s directory of 150 disease-resistant roses. Each rose receives its own page with a large photo, numeric rating, informative description, and useful suggestions for companion plants. The individual ratings, which include disease resistance, flowering, and fragrance, are indeed helpful. Surprisingly, the vast majority of the 150 roses that Kukielski rates and recommends are less well known, so, happily, his book also provides inspiration for adding new varieties to our gardens. In addition, we might be delighted to learn that the author, too, favors some local favorites, including Belinda’s Dream, Francis Meilland, Grande Amore, New Dawn, and Thérèse Bugnet as well as several in the Carefree, Drift, Flower Carpet, Knock Out, Oso Easy, and Thrive series. Even as the book ends, it continues to provide another useful feature: listings of roses by class and habit and by color, which makes planning our gardens and our purchases particularly easy. Peter E. Kukielski’s very useful, very inspirational book--Roses without chemicals—is available at the Charlotte, Monroe, Parma, Penfield, and Central libraries. If you’d like to learn more about how gardeners in the Rochester area grow beautiful, fragrant roses with fewer chemicals, please join us at one of our meetings. What a gorgeous book filled with glorious photographs!
This striking, comprehensive guide really should have been entitled The Random House Picture Book of Roses because of its stunning photographs. Like last month’s suggestion, 100 Old Roses for the American Garden, this work is equally noteworthy for its illustrations as well as its information. In it, the authors, Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, have provided essential background on a huge variety of roses – some 1,400 – and have included hundreds of glorious photos that reveal the distinct features of these classic beauties. The text is actually considerably shorter than what is typical in such guides, so this paperback is as much wish book as it is coffee table volume. More important, the scope of the contents is much broader than what most guides offer. The authors begin with a very brief introduction and a short but unusual discussion of wild roses. Other information is also unexpected: a detailed list of rose species and a discussion of the history of cultivating roses, which includes very brief descriptions of nearly 30 groups of roses. Many of the groups are familiar to ARS members, such as Noisettes, Hybrid Perpetuals, and Kordesii hybrids, but almost as many others are unknown to current hobbyists, such as Wichuraiana Ramblers, Boursaults, and Macrantha roses. As the opening sections conclude, two pages of dense type adequately cover both growing roses and controlling problems, and a few photos illustrate the text well. Then the real surprises are unveiled: The guide becomes encyclopedic in its brief, broad contents itemizing hundreds of older roses. While separate chapters efficiently categorize groups of roses and provide very brief, basic descriptions, the accompanying photographs are particularly exceptional. The first of these chapters is unique in that it discusses dozens of delicate wild roses and shows photos of them growing in their natural habits, including the rugged terrain of Yunnan and Sichuan, China. This chapter also begins the guide’s notable format: Providing staged group shots on the left-hand page and, on the right, another half dozen photos of additional roses in various garden settings amid brief descriptions of each specimen, such as classification, traits, history, and parentage, which is another feature that makes this volume a useful reference. The full-page photos on the left feature 8 to 10 beautiful roses displayed side by side and identified individually. The majority of specimens include open blossoms and buds, leaflets and stems, and thorns, so we get a complete view of each lovely rose. The full-page group shots are also unique in that they indicate when and where the glorious roses were cut.
The final delightful surprise comes at the end in four pages dedicated almost entirely to photos of rose hips taken on September 2 from Valley Gardens, Windsor. Because this volume, which was published in 1988, is an oldie, but a goodie, we might have trouble finding all of the roses covered in it, which is unfortunate because the vast majority of them (even most of the Hybrid Teas) are the lush, old-fashioned kind that have become popular again. Even if we can’t order all these varieties today, we can still enjoy their beauty thanks to Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix and their stunning photographs. The Random House Guide to Roses is available through Amazon. To learn more about the gorgeous roses that grow well in Western New York, consider joining the Greater Rochester Rose Society. This lovely field guide perfectly epitomizes the practice of form following function, for its shape—tall and narrow—suits its contents to a T, a Tea rose, that is.
Its rectangular shape and encyclopedic format allows each of its 100 Old Roses to be described in detail on the left-hand page with a photo of the specimen in question depicted on the facing page. Perhaps not precisely life size, the photos are truly lifelike and as equally informative as the text, which is by Clair G. Martin, longtime curator at Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. Indeed, the head-to-toe photos of the 100 cut specimens in the field guide section—which are by gardener and photographer Saxon Holt—are possibly the most striking feature of the book. Each long stem is staged against a white background and includes not only an open blossom, but also blooms at differing stages, from bud to fading flower, as well as the foliage and thorns (or prickles, if you prefer). Each exquisite photo fills its page, so, at a glance, the subtly of each specimen, like the form and shape of bud and blossom and whether their color changes as they mature is apparent. Simply by the photos, we can learn if the foliage is sparse, as it is on Louise Odier, a pink Bourbon, or if it densely covers the stem, as on the Albas Great Maiden’s Blush and Pompon Blanc Parfait. We can see, too, how few or how many thorns there are—and how fierce. While the Damask known as Autumn Damask is covered in fanglike prickles, the Rambler Princesse Louise has virtually no thorns in sight. In the first third of the book, Holt’s lovely photos include beautiful close-ups and evocative long shots and show glorious Old Roses growing in various lush garden settings. In the guide, opposite each stunning photo, is a full-page description of the Old Rose that includes some of the plant’s history as well as what Martin has learned from growing the variety himself. At the bottom, are facts about the rose’s stature, fragrance, and hardiness, among other pertinent details, for anyone considering adding the variety to his or her garden. And there are many—one hundred, to be exact—deserving of space in our gardens, and with the Internet, finding sources for Old Roses may be easier than it was in 1999, when the guide was published. In the field guide section, Martin discusses perennial Old Rose favorites, such as •Gallicas The Apothecary’s Rose, Belle de Crécy, Cardinal de Richelieu, and Rosa Mundi •Polyantha Cecile Brunner •Portland Comte de Chambord, which the author describes as “an impeccable Portland cultivar that is intensely scented with a divine Old Rose fragrance.” •Species Hybrid Empress Josephine •Damask Rose de Rescht •Bourbon Souvenir de la Malmaison If these classic Old Garden Rose beauties don’t delight, a few oddities are available, too, and some peculiar temptations can be found by perusing Holt’s well-designed photos: Baron Girod de l’Ain, a red Hybrid Perpetual, has unusually ruffled petals. The Centifolia or Moss Rose Crested Moss boasts buds covered in green feathery growth, and the Green Rose is a China whose “flowers” are raggedy green bursts reminiscent of chrysanthemums. Then there’s the Lady Banks’ Rose, a bright yellow Species Hybrid whose round buds and small blossoms look a little like what we’d see on a cherry tree, color notwithstanding. One of the nicest, and most helpful, inclusions is the Old Rose named Dr. Huey, the Climber whose rootstock often survives the cultivar that was grafted onto it. Dr. Huey often thrives on its own, so it regularly needs to be identified, yet Martin is among the few who thought to include it in their references. But there’s more than the field guide. Martin’s book opens with a conversational note from the author and a few concise pages of background about Old Roses. Holt’s beauty shots of select roses fill an informative chart of 16 Old Rose shapes or forms, while his garden shots depict many of the 17 classes of Old Roses Martin describes. An entire chapter discusses Old Roses as an aspect of culture and covers their uses from ancient times—in medicine, in literature—up to David Austin’s contributions. We’d expect a mention of the influence of the Empress Joséphine, whose rose collection remains legendary and whose foresight commissioned Redouté to paint portraits of her roses. However, we’re charmed to read a nice biography of Joseph Pernet, who Martin calls “the man who would be rose king” and “the creator of Modern Roses.” Another little surprise comes in the title of the chapter on growing and caring for Old Roses. No one who cares for 2,000 roses would be expected to think of his task as easy, yet Martin claims “Rose Growing [can be] Made Easy” and goes into sufficient detail on the most important factors: basic needs like sunlight, soil, water, and selection, purchasing, planting, transplanting, companion planting, mulching, weeding, pruning, fertilizing, training, dead-heading, and cold-hardiness. After the field guide, the book concludes with appendices (which may be somewhat out of date now) that list mail-order sources for Old Roses and a directory of public gardens with Old Roses. An index of these roses by color is particularly helpful, and the final list provides information for Old Rose publications and organizations, including the American Rose Society. An elegant and edifying resource, 100 Old Roses for the American Garden, from Workman Publishing Company in 1999, is available at the Fairport Public Library and, hopefully, at a library or bookstore near you. If not, there’s always the Internet. To learn more about the Old Garden Roses that grow well in Western New York, consider joining the Greater Rochester Rose Society. Right for Any Cold-Climate Library
The opening statement of Peter Schneider’s introduction gives rose lovers both the good news and the bad: “The single most important key to growing good roses is choosing the right rose in the first place,” and Right Rose, Right Place tells us just how to do that. Schneider’s detailed descriptions of more than 350 rose bushes read like encyclopedia entries, and the wealth of information about rose-gardening concerns makes this quite a guidebook. The gorgeous photography and large scale of the volume are worthy of a coffee table, so this book has it all and will make readers long for the season and space to plant roses. Throughout this book, the photographs are particularly evocative. There are some larger pictures of breathtaking landscape settings, quite a few photos of lovely roses with lush foliage, and many unusually large beauty shots of individual blossoms. The images are so stunning you’ll be swept off your feet again by your old loves and smitten with some new ones, too. Among the roses Schneider discusses and depicts in gorgeous photos are some favorites of the Greater Rochester Rose Society including
Divided into three parts, Schneider’s book first explains that anyone is able to grow roses and that roses are able to fulfill a number of purposes, which is a unique way of thinking about the different classes of roses. Throughout the book, text boxes and mini lessons are included among the main text and assorted photographs. The book’s second part reads like a personalized encyclopedia because that’s what it is: Schneider explains he has described only roses he has grown, so this section offers his take on a number of qualities rose can have, such as roses that are stately enough to be planted on their own, ones that work well with other plants, and roses for flower beds. He also offers his choices for planting in containers or cutting gardens and for mini, climbing, and tree roses as well. Most of his descriptions are longer than usual and include a discussion of plant history, useful instruction, personal commentary, or the like. The final, most practical part of the book details how to plant, prune, and protect these beauties as well as how to care for them and correct issues that arise. While this book is notable because it reflects Schneider’s experience with roses over three decades, its most helpful feature is that it focuses, for the most part, on cold-hardy roses. In fact, many of the roses Schneider recommends are suited for Zones 5 and 6. Since the author hails from Ohio, where winter makes choosing appropriate roses crucial, Schneider is well-qualified to tell readers which are the best roses for the worst climates, and his book offers readers hundreds of beautiful choices. Right Rose, Right Place, from Storey Publishing in 2009, is available at the Brighton, Fairport, Mendon, Rochester Central, and Scottsville libraries. Please leave a comment, and let us know if you found this review helpful or if you can recommend other roses that are right at home in the Rochester area. Taylor's Guide to Roses is an oldie but a goodie.
A compact, hefty book, Taylor’s Guide to Roses offers as much as many larger volumes. What’s more important, it includes several features that many similar resources lack. The volume reviewed here was published in 1961, but several subsequent editions are also available. This work is divided into 60 or so pages of text (beginning with a discussion of the American Rose Society), followed by color plates with basic details about many specific varieties, which are grouped into eight classes of roses. Early on, the guide helps us on “Getting Started.” When planning, for example, the guide not only reminds us to consider how established trees and their root systems will compete with rose bushes planted nearby, but it also suggests that we imagine how big young trees will grow before we situate our roses in areas where they will be unintentionally shaded in the future. Among the atypical information are diagrams of how to improve drainage and how to prune to increase bloom production, as well as instructions for planting miniatures. Hardiness, winter protection, and related considerations, which are merely mentioned by others, are discussed over several dense pages in Taylor’s Guide. For instance, the problem of winterizing roses planted in containers is solved by the guide’s suggestion to either bring them indoors or to bury the entire container in the ground and then protect the exposed bush as if it were actually planted in a flower bed. Two solutions are also offered to care for rose bushes in climates where winter freezes and occasional thaws are an issue: The more expensive option is to use foam cones to cover the canes. The less costly method is to use layers of newspaper to snuggly encircle rose bushes and then staple the pages together, so they stay in place. Another pair of pages provides a useful rose-gardening calendar – starting with Month 1, which is whenever rose gardening begins in the reader’s region. Almost six pages are dedicated to showing roses, including “special rules for clusters,” storing blossoms before the show, and grooming them on site. The next helpful section covers rose garden design, and opens with a lovely thought: “Many people consider a rose garden to be the ultimate garden, the way a diamond is the ultimate gem. Fortunately, it is an ultimate within reach—a jewel of a garden that can turn an ordinary yard into a pocket of old-fashioned grace, fragrance, and glowing color.” This section also covers garden styles and considerations like sun and exposure, and then it goes farther to discuss harmonious colors, garden shapes, and edgings. For example, the guidebook discusses where to place a rose garden and suggests that good air circulation (to ward off fungal diseases) is as important as 6 hours of sunlight. Among the color plates is a key to the range of rose shades, which is followed by separate sections on each variety, from species to minis. What’s unusual – and helpful – is that the roses are grouped according to their shade, so if you like the light apricot Medallion, you might also like Helen Traubel, which is similarly hued but is more winter hardy. The volume concludes with even more helpful and unusually detailed information, such as an encyclopedia (that has additional information about each class as well as the varieties previously pictured) and an appendix (that has advice for arranging roses among other topics and a glossary of relevant botanical terms). Taylor’s Guide to Roses (which is based on Taylor’s Encyclopedia of Gardening) is an old friend that is still most helpful today, as well as a good resource with unique information. |
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Patti Dee, Archives
December 2018
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