In Search of Lost Roses

Rating:
Summary: a history of rose rustling
Review: A fascinating journey through the history of roses that have long been lost to us. Not so much a picture book (at all), but written in an informative, down to earth way, recounting the tangled mess that leads to where we are now with our roses.

Rating:
Summary: Few gardening books like this one
Review: For me, Gardening is about feeding my soul with beauty. If you are weary from reading the countless "how-to" gardening books that fill the shelves of the bookstore, then I would highly recommend this book.

Did you know that public parks evolved historically from cemeteries? Read this book to find out more.

And, no doubt, as other reviewers have noted, you will go out and find yourself one of these roses after reading their story.

Great book! :-)

Rating:
Summary: Few gardening books like this one
Review: For me, Gardening is about feeding my soul with beauty. If you are weary from reading the countless "how-to" gardening books that fill the shelves of the bookstore, then I would highly recommend this book.

Did you know that public parks evolved historically from cemeteries? Read this book to find out more.

And, no doubt, as other reviewers have noted, you will go out and find yourself one of these roses after reading their story.

Great book! :-)

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book for a curious gardener
Review: I first read this book over ten years ago - I found it to be soothing and exciting and just plain fun at times. Thomas Christopher knew just how to make the search for old roses a dream for me. Since that time, with the Internet and old rose nurseries, finding old roses has become a rather mundane procedure. But this book brings me back to the time when the only way to find old roses was in an old cemetery or the garden of the 90 year old widow around the corner. In many ways, that was more fun.

Rating:
Summary: A delight for rose lovers, and a fun read for anyone
Review: My family has a long-standing love affair with roses: a "Belle of Portugal" that my grandmother planted in the 1920's has been passed down through several generations. So I found this book utterly delightful, full of fascinating anecdotes about old varieties of roses, the characters who developed and distributed them, and the even wilder characters who "rustle" and propagate old roses with passion and gusto today. The chapters are thematic and geographical, rather than historical, but they're immensely fun to read. I learned all sorts of amazing historical trivia -- e.g., why the Grass Valley, CA public library owns a Cornish/English dictionary, and the political aspects of rose nomenclature. And, as someone interested in "heirloom" plants in general (I'm a card-carrying member of Slow Food), I found his discussion of rose genetics and propagation fascinating. Some of his stories are poignant, too -- e.g., the elderly black women in rural Texas who propagated roses over the centuries from sheer love, but were dying out even as he wrote. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and recommend it even if you're not an old rose buff.

Rating:
Summary: A delight for rose lovers, and a fun read for anyone
Review: My family has a long-standing love affair with roses: a "Belle of Portugal" that my grandmother planted in the 1920's has been passed down through several generations. So I found this book utterly delightful, full of fascinating anecdotes about old varieties of roses, the characters who developed and distributed them, and the even wilder characters who "rustle" and propagate old roses with passion and gusto today. The chapters are thematic and geographical, rather than historical, but they're immensely fun to read. I learned all sorts of amazing historical trivia -- e.g., why the Grass Valley, CA public library owns a Cornish/English dictionary, and the political aspects of rose nomenclature. And, as someone interested in "heirloom" plants in general (I'm a card-carrying member of Slow Food), I found his discussion of rose genetics and propagation fascinating. Some of his stories are poignant, too -- e.g., the elderly black women in rural Texas who propagated roses over the centuries from sheer love, but were dying out even as he wrote. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and recommend it even if you're not an old rose buff.

Rating:
Summary: ~a life-long collector of garden writing says...~
Review: There are few books in my gardening library so excellent I buy extra copies; miserly dealt out only to The Worthy. One of them is In Search Of Lost Roses.

In Search Of Lost Roses is a romp. A detective story. We are outlaws. We skulk through forgotten cemeteries. We drive old dirt roads. We meet eccentric old folks over garden gates, guardian angels of roses whose scent we will remember all our lives; things foreign to hybridizers in white lab coats.

I defy you to read this book and ~not~ acquire at least one of the old roses lauded within. My first choice was 'Aimee Vibert', a climbing noisette from 1828. England and France have an ancient horticultural feud. French nurseryman J.P. Vibert named his fragrant white masterpiece after his daughter. (As an aside: hunt plants with a woman's name. Only the best plants were named after wives, daughters, and mistresses.) Vibert said of his delicate climber "The English when they see her will go down on their knees." As I did and still do. For the three weeks she blooms on the arbor she is the goddess of the garden. She has a magnetizing effect on garden visitors and I tell them the story and say the punchline in my Inspector Clouseau accent. It is a testament to Mlle. Vibert that 200 years later she is still enchanting, passed down gardener to gardener. I never would have known her without In Search Of Lost Roses.

You will never forget this book. But buy it for the rose rustler's cutting recipe alone, if you will. With it I rooted cuttings from a fragrant and summer-long unknown in an ancient cemetery (I gave her the name of the lady she was planted over) after two years of trying other methods. And buy two. Perhaps someone you know is worthy. 5 Stars for Mr. Christopher.

Rating:
Summary: ~a life-long collector of garden writing says...~
Review: There are few books in my gardening library so excellent I buy extra copies; miserly dealt out only to The Worthy. One of them is In Search Of Lost Roses.

In Search Of Lost Roses is a romp. A detective story. We are outlaws. We skulk through forgotten cemeteries. We drive old dirt roads. We meet eccentric old folks over garden gates, guardian angels of roses whose scent we will remember all our lives; things foreign to hybridizers in white lab coats.

I defy you to read this book and ~not~ acquire at least one of the old roses lauded within. My first choice was 'Aimee Vibert', a climbing noisette from 1828. England and France have an ancient horticultural feud. French nurseryman J.P. Vibert named his fragrant white masterpiece after his daughter. (As an aside: hunt plants with a woman's name. Only the best plants were named after wives, daughters, and mistresses.) Vibert said of his delicate climber "The English when they see her will go down on their knees." As I did and still do. For the three weeks she blooms on the arbor she is the goddess of the garden. She has a magnetizing effect on garden visitors and I tell them the story and say the punchline in my Inspector Clouseau accent. It is a testament to Mlle. Vibert that 200 years later she is still enchanting, passed down gardener to gardener. I never would have known her without In Search Of Lost Roses.

You will never forget this book. But buy it for the rose rustler's cutting recipe alone, if you will. They helped me to root cuttings from a fragrant and summer-long unknown in an ancient cemetery (I gave her the name of the lady she was planted over) after two years of trying other methods. And buy two. Perhaps someone you know is worthy. 5 Stars for Mr. Christopher.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting personal story
Review: This book was an interesting compendium of the experiences of the author in looking for and finding old roses. He gives insight into the background of roses, where to find them and practical knowledge of the collecting. I do think it is a scientific work or an index, rather an interesting read about how he approached collecting old roses and what made them interesting to him. I enjoyed it!

Rating:
Summary: Whose rose is this?....
Review: Thomas Christopher, a garden writer with a great deal of experience went looking for wild roses. His trip took him all over the United States from Connecticut to Texas to California to the American South. He discovered a unique fellowship of individuals who over the years have grown and thus preserved what are known as `old roses'.

I happen to grow Blanc Double de Courbet in my own garden, so was a little annoyed to read that one of Mr. Christopher's interviewees (Mike Lowe of Nashua NH) did not particularly like this particular Rugosa rose. I agree the blossoms are not very tidy as they wither on the plant, but cut a few of these roses in full bloom and bring them in the house and you won't care about the faded blossoms (which are more scented than some of the modern hybrids in full bloom). I like to place a vase of these white roses next to my reading chair. The scent is so fabulous that from time to time I become aware of it no matter how engrossing the book.

Christopher interviews folks in California who live in the old gold mine areas where everything is in shambles except the roses growing madly in the abandoned gardens. He interviews elderly Black women who have grown old roses abandoned by their employers who took up with the new hybrids. The true identity of the roses is often unknown (or was not known before modern genetics) and thus the roses have acquired the names of the persons who `saved' them. For example, one rose named `Miss Mary Minor' was later identified as `Souvenir de la Malmaison'.

Malmaison, as anyone who grows roses knows was the garden of Josephine Bonaparte. All garden writers who tell the tale like to remind readers that even the British during their battles with Napoleon accommodated Malmaison. Josephine was able to maintain her garden and stay in contact with British Rosarians in spite of the sea battles that raged around her.

Which leads to the decision of the United States to name the rose as the national flower (the rose is the national flower of England not France). Some of us are old enough to remember Senator Dirksen lauding the marigold and nominating it for the honor of national flower. Chistopher reminds the reader that like Benjamin Franklin and the turkey, Dirksen was doomed to fail. In the end, the US congress chose the rose. Some us like to imagine the American rose is a wild five-petaled rose and not one of those silly hybrids found in florist's shops.