Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #321820 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Christopher's brief account of his journeys searching out the hardy yet subtle shrubs classified as "old roses" provides many satisfactions. Illustrations.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This highly readable account is the story of one man's quest for the old-fashioned roses, fragrant and beautiful flowers largely forgotten following the introduction of tea roses in 1867. The author recounts his explorations through backyards, cemeteries, abandoned gold rush towns of America, and old gardens of Europe, describing the roses he found and the dedicated specialists he met along the way. By one estimate, only several hundred of the originally thousands of old rose cultivars still exist. These roses' wealth of form, color, fragrance, and habit made each unique; the same cannot be said of the new, uniform varieties. This is a welcome record of the efforts of the few who are preserving this agricultural legacy.
- Annette Aiello, Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst., Panama
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

Customer Reviews

Whose rose is this?....
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.

Few gardening books like this one
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! :-)

A delight for rose lovers, and a fun read for anyone
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.