Roses in the Southern Garden

Rating:
Summary: Great for people who want to grow roses in the south!
Review: I have all of the books (that are in print) on growing roses in the South and this is my favorite. It has wonderful photos of roses in their garden context as well as close up so you can examine the blooms. Colors are accurately printed! It recommends a wide range of growth habits of roses and categorizes them by size which I think is useful. Plus you know you can actually get the varieties they recommend since they have a nursery that sells them all! This and Liz Druitt's Organic rose book have the best advice for selecting disease resistant roses for hot and/or humid places. However, this book has bigger and more exciting photos! Druitt has more detailed information so if you got both books, you would be pretty well covered. Lastly, Peter Beales' Classic Roses would round out a collection and is a great rose book for people in any climate, not just the south US.

Rating:
Summary: Great for people who want to grow roses in the south!
Review: I have all of the books (that are in print) on growing roses in the South and this is my favorite. It has wonderful photos of roses in their garden context as well as close up so you can examine the blooms. Colors are accurately printed! It recommends a wide range of growth habits of roses and categorizes them by size which I think is useful. Plus you know you can actually get the varieties they recommend since they have a nursery that sells them all! This and Liz Druitt's Organic rose book have the best advice for selecting disease resistant roses for hot and/or humid places. However, this book has bigger and more exciting photos! Druitt has more detailed information so if you got both books, you would be pretty well covered. Lastly, Peter Beales' Classic Roses would round out a collection and is a great rose book for people in any climate, not just the south US.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book for rose lovers in the south
Review: This is a valuable book for selecting antique roses that perform well in the southeast and southwestern areas of the U.S. After a brief introduction, chapters are arranged as follows: 1) Vigorous climbers 2) Mannerly climbers 3) Large shrubs 4) Small Shrubs 5) Specialty roses. Each variety is given a two page spread which contains a few paragraphs describing the rose and its habits and numerous photographs. The most valuable aspect are the photographs because they show how the rose grows in different situations, such as on a fence, an arbor, etc. There are close-ups of the rose and views of the entire plant. There is no horticultural advice, so this book can really only be used as a selection device. The photos alone, however, make this a worthy purchase.