Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #280547 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-09
• Released on: 2002-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Booklist
Low-maintenance roses? Yes, there is a new breed of shrub rose. These less-fussy plants inspired Cox to create a guide to designing garden plans where perennials contentedly consort with the queen of flowers. Although some rose lovers desire formal beds, others strive for an exuberant, free-form naturalistic style, so Cox shows ways to maximize the effects of repeat and once-blooming roses regardless of the garden layout. Pavia's photographs capture vignettes in private, primarily American, gardens where splendid varieties of old and modern roses reign. Cox looks for qualities like disease resistance, an attractive growth habit, and abundant flower production to base his recommendations for rose color and hardiness or to meet design requirements. Anyone new to rose gardening should appreciate the concluding chapters, with practical advice on how to select, grow, and prune roses. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Written for American gardeners this is nevertheless of much interest to rose lovers in the UK. A fresh viewpoint from an established US gardening writer and presenter, Jeff Cox, accompanied by the inspirational photographs of Jerry Pavia make this an informative, attractive work on one of Britain's favourite flowers. Gardeners are always interested in other people's gardens and this gives a glorious insight into how roses are grown abroad, in zones not always amenable to rose growing. Arbours, trellis, rose-beds, mixed borders - all are covered with clear instructions on how to make supports and general cultivation advice. Unusual planting combinations and growing methods make this a must for gardeners interested in using roses as part of their garden design and a fresh intelligent viewpoint on an age-old subject is always welcome. - Lucy Watson

Customer Reviews

Practical and Useful
There are many books about roses but this is one of the better ones. Written by well-known garden host (HGTV and PBS) Jeff Cox, it is a beautiful yet practical book that delivers exactly what the title promises.

The first couple of hundred pages give you ideas for using roses in a whole range of different garden settings. The remainder explains how to buy, plant and care for roses. The advice is excellent for the novice or intermediate gardener. I give the writer full marks for not just providing a "directory of roses" - a cop-out all too often used to fill pages in garden books. Instead he shows how different types of roses can be used in the landscape.

The book has plenty of colour photographs showing roses used in different settings. I have to say that I was turned off by the hype on the cover. This is not a "ground-breaking book", the effects are not "dazzling" and as a guide it was useful rather than "inspirational". However, the writer has produced a practical, workman-like guide to effective landscape design using roses.

The book is well-designed and easy to read. I would recommend it to anyone who was thinkinf of incorporating roses into their garden.

Incorporate the rose bush into a variety of landscaping goal
This isn't your usual all-encompassing guide to rose varieties: instead it tells how to incorporate the rose bush into a variety of landscaping goals; from walkways and arbors to container gardening. Tips on choosing and growing the newer, hardier, low-maintenance breeds blend with those on how to arrange roses in conjunction with shrubs and other perennials for maximum effect.

Great book for rose information you can't find in other places
I love this book, and have found tons of inspiration in it. It's filled with ideas, technical answers, and beautiful photos. The book has tons information and is not just a glossary of popular roses.

The only drawback I found with this book is that almost all of the photos are of pink roses. I was hoping to find more photos of inspiring landscapes with yellow and red roses. However, that's only a minor detail, and all in all this book is fabulous. Highly recommended!