Reliable Roses: Easy-To-Grow Roses That Won't Let You Down

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Summary: How to think about -- and thus practice -- growing roses
Review: An outstanding new reference for rose growers because Harkness, a member of the highly regarded rose growing family in England, helps us understand how great, easy-to-grow roses distinguish themselves from their more troublesome, but still lovely, fellow-travelers.

Only 75 roses made the cut for this book, which is not a very wide scope. This narrows considerably for gardeners like me who contend with truly frigid winters and shorter growing seasons. But the depth! Each rose receives the full Harkness treatment for flower properties (color; shape and size; scent; production), plant properties (shape and size; position; hardiness), foliage properties (color; health check; garden uses), a rating in each overall area of flower properties, plant properties, and foliage properties, and an overall assessment and rating. Harkness provides a framework and 75 examples of how to evaluate a rose, which is tremendously useful for those of us who have space to grow only a few beauties. The detailed directory of roses combined with sensible and lucid explanations of rose-growing make the book ideal for beginners or rose-phobics.

Some haughty rosarians might consider themselves beyond the information presented here. More's the pity for them because the photographs -- all full color and many full page -- are remarkable for their clarity, detail, and loveliness. I hope I am never sufficiently expert at rose growing to pass up such a beautiful book.