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.
0 Comments
|
Author
Patti Dee, Archives
December 2018
Categories |