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 Included on this page are books, web links and mail order sources for roses. Books The following are my favorite rose books. Most have good pictures
and tons of helpful information. I got some from http://www.amazon.com
and included links if you wish to purchase from them. Amazon has an excellent search facility,
too, and if you look for books on
roses, you will find plenty. At the bottom of this page is a targeted
search from Amazon.com, if you are interested. Click on the butterfly to
go there quickly. Be sure to read the reviews though at whatever bookseller you choose, as some are just "artsy" and not much help other than having nice pictures.
This is my favorite book and I carry it with me when I travel. Not only does Liz Druitt give good advice on organic gardening, but she concentrates on Southern gardening and has a great list of roses with pictures and excellent descriptions. She generally has a photograph of the rose and a description of the variety including growing information and hardiness. There is also an excellent discussion of organic growing techniques for rose gardens and the focus is on roses that can survive organic techniques and not perish from black spot, mildew or other disease. When I seriously began planting roses, I followed her suggestions and have had extremely good success.
If you are going to grow English Shrub Roses, you must get this book. It seems to be especially accurate for the South and California regions. Each rose has an absolutely beautiful picture and very detailed description including physical description, growth patterns, disease resistance and general comments. It is a simply stunning book, published by Workman. This book was so gorgeous that I bought the Heirloom Tomatoes volume, published by Workman, as well, and was just as pleased with that book. I don't know who the genius was who designed this series but they deserve an award because not only is the information concise, well written and valuable, but the organization, format and pictures are worthy of an art gallery.
If you want to read the history of roses and detailed descriptions of the rose classes, this a great book. I was a little intimidated when I first got it, as it was not one of the rose books I had seen with a picture of each rose and a description. However, after I sat down and started reading it, I could not put it down. Some parts are almost novel-like in the history of roses, how they were discovered or hybridized, and other details. It lives by my bed and I read sections almost every night. Mr. Thomas is a very gifted writer and his love of roses really shines through. If you are interested in old garden roses and the history of roses, you must get this book. It is one of the most informative on the subject and his descriptions of the roses are yummy.
David Austin developed the English Roses and this little book is not only beautiful, but probably one of the more accurate regarding Old Roses. There are descriptions of each class of rose with a history and explanation of the differences in the roses. He doesn't especially care for Tea roses, however, but I believe this is because of his climate in England. Here in the South, it is hard to find better roses than the Teas, with the exceptions of the Noisettes and Chinas. Of course, as the hybridizer responsible for English Roses, there is an excellent section on these, as well, that lists many of the older varieties with well written descriptions of growth patterns and form.
This is the companion volume to the book listed above. It covers modern shrubs, climbing roses, Hybrid Teas and Floribunda. Again, he is accurate and gives wonderful descriptions. There are a few photographs, but not one for each rose listed as it is not that kind of a book. The photographs are not that great, but this is really a book to obtain for the descriptions, not pretty pictures.
This is a lovely, informative little book which gives very succinct information about old roses, along with some good pictures. It is a small book and easy to carry along.
This is a great, fat but little book. It gives more information than is usual about most of the roses in existence. Most roses are shown in very good pictures. It is a small book and easy to carry along, although it is very fat. I have used this extensively when trying to identify orphaned roses.
This book is great to take with you shopping because it has a plastic slip-cover that keeps it from getting wet or soiled when you are out tromping around. There are excellent photographs of the roses listed, and detailed descriptions. There is a good section devoted to old garden roses. This is an wonderful "first book" for new rose growers or folks who don't want to many historical facts. I highly recommend it: it was the book I purchased for my sister when she started growing roses.
This is a large book with good photographs and excellent text. It is organized by rose class, which has been of tremendous help to me when trying to identify orphaned roses. Not every rose has a photograph, but many do, and his introductions to each rose class are very well written. This is another book that really grows on you as you develop your rose garden. There is a great section in the back on the cultivation of roses, with good drawings and photographs, including propagation.
There is a big version of this and a small one. I have the big version and it comes with a CD-ROM that allows you to search by several criteria for roses. This is more of a reference work and has very few pictures. However, I have found it invaluable when trying to look up information about my roses. If you are going to participate in American Rose Society (http://www.ars.org) rose shows, you should invest in a copy of this book, especially if you are going to show any of the old garden roses. Mail Order Sources for Roses All of our roses have been purchased from mail order sources. Here are the companies we use most frequently. Chamblee's Rose Nursery Chamblee's Rose Nursery Roses Unlimited Roses Unlimited These roses are own-root and extremely healthy. I have never had one of their roses die on me. They have a good assortment of old garden roses and modern roses that do well in the South. They also carry a great list of English Shrub roses on their own roots, which can be difficult to find elsewhere. As with the previous grower, these roses have good root systems and healthy top growth. Heirloom Roses Heirloom Roses Heirloom Roses has a beautiful catalog for $5.00 that you should get. They used to specialize in old garden roses and was my source for most of my really old roses, but they have since "commercialized" and are going more with the modern shrub roses such as English Shrub roses. Their own-root roses are small and I tend to have a high failure rate because I plant them in the garden immediately instead of transferring them to a larger pot and babying them for a year. (I can't do that as I travel and they would die from lack of water while I was gone...) I have better luck with them if I order for shipment no earlier than June, or in the fall. Then, I have about a 80% success rate. This is also my source of orphan roses because you used to be able to get 10 orphaned (unnamed) roses for $49.00. Interestingly enough, I have always had a much higher success rate with the orphans and many have turned out to be English shrub roses. Go figure.... Their roses, when they arrive, are basically a single "stem" with a very minimal root system. For a higher success rate, you will need to pot these up to give them a chance to develop, or place in a "nursery" area in your garden. Once they establish, however, they should do well. If you purchase them in the fall, you will have larger, better developed plants (I figure they have been babying them all summer, so they are larger and more able to survive being directly planted into the garden.) Mendocino Heirloom Roses Mendocino Heirloom Roses e-mail: gdaly@mcn.org I have not purchased from these folks, yet, but they have a good list of old garden roses on their own roots. The price of roses is $15.00 plus shipping.
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I Bid One American is now available from The Wild Rose Press and getting wonderful reviews!
A lady rose smuggler meets her match...
SMUGGLED ROSE was awarded 4 stars by the Romantic Times! ...a witty, refreshing read...
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