Product Description

The rose is one of the most popular and celebrated of flowers, and recent years have seen a revival of interest in old-fashioned varieties. Gardening with Old Roses, enhanced with200 beautiful color photos, shows you how to grow and care for these lush, fragrant, full-petaled beauties. Chapters include: a Directory of Old Roses, profiling130 of the finest old shrub roses, climbers, and ramblers, as well as some modern shrub and species roses; Designing with Old Roses, covering all the elements of planning a rose garden as well using old roses for beds, borders, walls, and arbors; Companion Planting, offering ideas for striking plant associations; and Caring for Old Roses, which has complete information on soil, fertilizers, planting, pruning, and spraying. Inspiring, practical, and one of the most comprehensive books available on old roses.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1640201 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

From Library Journal
Long neglected, antique roses with their extravagantly blowzy flowers, quite unlike the tight-petaled blooms of their modern cousins, hybrid teas, are deservedly enjoying renewed popularity. These two titles by British rosarians are evidence of this trend. Scarman, owner of an English nursery that specializes in old-fashioned varieties, presents a beautifully illustrated directory of 150 roses as well as chapters on plant design, companion planting (with examples of innovative combinations), and basic care. Although Beales, a commercial rose grower and daughter of renowned old-rose specialist Peter Beales, intended her Rose Basics as a general guide to growing all types of roses, she features many heirloom roses worthy of cultivation. Particularly useful is the chapter on roses for difficult conditions, such as shade and poor soil; such information is often neglected in basic rose culture guides. Because both of these titles were written for a British audience, they lack specific critical advice for American gardeners, i.e., appropriate rose selection and care for the highly diverse climatic regions of the United States. For such information, readers should turn to Rayford Reddell's A Year in the Life of a Rose: A Guide to Growing Roses from Coast to Coast (LJ 11/15/96) or Judith McKeon's Encyclopedia of Roses: An Organic Guide to Growing America's Favorite Flower (LJ 9/1/95). Nevertheless, these new titles should be included in general gardening collections.ABrian Lym, City Coll. Lib. of San Francisco
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
With his wife Teresa, John Scarman runs Cottage Garden Roses, a nursery in Staffordshire which specialises in old-fashioned varieties. The Scarmans have dedicated themselves to rescuing forgotten rose varieties from obscure corners of Britain and France and their garden, containing all types of cottage rose, is open to the public. John Scarman travels Europe to lecture on the subject of roses, runs courses, and designs rose gardens. The Scarmans and their garden have been the subject of numerous articles in leading magazines and newspapers, and they have exhibited successfully at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful book.
I have several old rose gardening books. This welcomed book is hard to put down. What I have found helpful is the section on care and pruning of old roses. In the past I've had to research several of my books to find out the information that is in this one consice and beautiful book.

Gardening With Old Roses
I liked this book on the old roses because Mr. Scarman gives you such detailed information regarding their habits of growth, the type and shape of bush and how to keep it looking it's best. He gives a personality to the different classes of the old roses so you can understand how they want to grow, plus their likes and dislikes pertaining to soil, location and even watering. His chapter on the pruning of the old roses is the best I have ever read .The whole book is very informative. I would definately reccommend Gardening With Old Roses for those who are looking for that little bit of extra information on the older roses.

Gardening with Old Roses by John Scarman
This is one of the best books I have on gardening with old roses, and I have many. It's small enough to carry around, has great pictures, but it's his information that is so wonderful. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in old roses, beginner or pro.