Smith & Hawken: 100 Old Roses for the American Garden

Cicero said that all you need is a garden and a library. Buy this book and you've got both! Growers of Old Roses often have a library of books featuring information and (mostly) pictures of roses to help get them through the winter months when they are all alone. Some gardeners have a huge collection (me) mainly for looking up and comparing pictures of specific roses to decide which ones to grow. Not all pictures are equal. Since a rose is a three dimensional object and pictures can only show one view of a rose you need more than one picture to make up your mind. This book gives you one view but also lets you see the stem, leaves, bud and flower against a white background. The color reproduction system and choice of paper are near perfect, functional and luxurious. Mr. Martin also gives the most amount of comments about each rose I have ever seen in a rose book (and I have about thirty). There is also an introductory essay that gives you the history, romance and growth information - all you need!. You can argue about which plants are left out but that's foolish. Just enjoy those included and look elsewhere for others. After all, it is titled "One Hundred Roses." This, and it's companion on English roses, are the books I turn to in the dark January nights- with a little bit of imagination and memory you can be transported to June in January!

Clair G. Martin has produced a successful survey of old roses for most gardeners. His prior work, 100 English Roses for the American Garden is the preferred reference work for American Gardeners of the ever popular Austin Roses. This book gives a terrific survey of old roses for those unfamiliar with the subject. The book follows the same easy to use format as its predecessor. The opening section provides a useful review of the old roses and their history. Interesting side bars, such as the biography of Pernet-Ducher, give a lively and informative view of the area. The most popular part of the book will be the field guide. Saxon Holt's lush photographs illustrate each of the roses. The text is clear concise and informative. Again the information below the text provides essential guides to size, as well as hardiness, based on region. All in all, a most useful book for the casual gardener who seeks to begin to grow old roses or even the more dedicated rosarian seeking a concise overview of the subject. For the more serious OGR aficionado, this book will be the source of many arguments based on the field guide choices. For readers of Brent Dickerson's tomes on the subject, or Graham Thomas's seminal works this book will lack the exhuastive information of those works, but should be pleasing because of its convenient size and breezy prose.

If you are interested in growing roses and want to try some that are not just your basic Hybrid Teas, this is a wonderful book to get. You will drool over the pictures and the text is excellent. The pictures take one page and are a gorgeous shots of the bloom with a long stem and leaves. On the opposite page is text which goes into great detail about the rose characteristics, growth patterns, habits, vigor, etc. It is an invaluable book when trying to decide what old garden roses to introduce to your garden.This format is so beautful and so useful, that I have purchased all of the gardening books in this "series" by this publisher. It is rare to get such excellent photos in combination with such useful text.I started growing roses about five years ago and became frustrated with Hybrid Teas because of blackspot and their generally fussy behavior and stiff, formal flowers. This book and Liz Druitt's book were instrumental in getting me to try old garden roses, and am I glad I did! I would highly recommend this to both beginning gardeners and experienced, alike.

Having the 100 English Roses For the American Garden, I knew that this book would be no slouch with showcasing excellent old roses for our gardens here in the USA. Clair Martin writes well and describes the characteristics of each rose on one page and a beautiful photo of the rose is on the opposite page of the description. I recommend this book for all rose afficionados whether you grow hybrid teas, English roses, floribundas or old garden roses. This book is a must for your reference library and use it as a wish list when you go into various nurseries looking for something new that is old!

I purchased this book expecting to find information on one of the best old roses for a beginning grower of old roses to grow...'Marchesa Boccella' (aka 'Jacques Cartier'). It was not included. Since it's the rose I had bought for my garden, in that respect, the book was disappointing, but it is a helpful field guide to the 100 old roses that were selected by the author. If I had been able to see the list of the roses, I would not have bought it.

Beautiful book--a must have for any rose gardener or flower enthusiast. The seller delivered as promised. I'm extremely satisfied!

This wonderful rose pictorial and it's companion, 100 English Roses for the US Garden, are outstanding must-haves. Yes, it's been out for a while, but old roses are just that.... excellent reference for OGR's.

Love this book. Good pics enough info on roses selected for review by author. Right size.Great rosarian.

A little too expensive for a slim book on roses but lovely photographs.

バラ、特にオールドローズ好きなので購入しました。買って大正解でした。なんと言っても写真が好きなんです。しかしこの本のバラの写真は図鑑のようで(ルドゥーテの植物画のような構図)好き嫌いがあるかもしれません。あとバラそれぞれにデータが載っており(高さ病気香り気候等)かなり使えます！アメリカンガーデンとありますが日本でもあまり変わらないと思いました。ちなみに掲載してあるのは代表的なものが多いですがいろんな系統がバランスよく載っています。