1. Holmes, Eber, Rose Garden Primer,1930, A.T. De La Mare Company, Inc., New York.  Inside dust jacket: "The truth about rose growing at home, for pleasure, is told in this book in a simple, straight-forward, instructive and interesting manner that will be helpful not only to the beginner, but also to the advance amateur. While the Rose is perfectly at home beautifying the homes and gardens of the wealthy, nevertheless everyone with a little yard on which the sun shines for a part of the day may have at least a few Rose bushes." The photo on the right is on page 20. The caption reads "Anna de Diesbach. A fine, pink flowered Hybrid Perpetual Rose" |
2. McFarland, J. Horace, Roses of the World in Color, 1936 and 1947, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.  From the Introduction: "No one could more appropriately write a book such as "Roses of the World in Color" than Dr. J. Horace McFarland, nor is anyone better qualified. For more than seventy-five years he has loved roses with a passion few, if any, have experienced. To him must go the credit for much of the popularization and spread of interest in roses in the United States." "Here are the world's best roses as seen by the preeminent rosarian who loves and understands them." The image on the left is from page XV. |
3. Roses of Yesterday and Today, 1952-53 catalog, Lester and Tillotson Rose Gardens, Watsonville, CA.  From the introduction: "Of the 400 varieties to be described, about 190 are segregated as "Old-Fashioned and Unusual," 17 Moss Roses, 46 Polyanthas, and Floribundas, and 138 Moderns. An index inside front cover, is a happy addition. Our phonetic efforts to pronounce the French names of roses herein, will not give either of us the suave inflections of a Sascha Guitry, but my entertain your garden visitors. Without undue ego, we believe this to be an unusually large and outstanding collection of beautiful roses. Much is yet to be done to attain the perfection we seek,--that collection of 300 ideal varieties, old and new, which is our goal." |
4. Stemler, Dorothy C., Roses of Yesterday and Today, 1960 catalog, Will Tillotsons's Roses, Watsonville, CA. From the introduction: "In the Fall of 1945, Will Tillotson handed me a copy of the first Roses of Yesterday & Today written by him--autographed and marked "Copy No. 1." This became a tradition. In the 1957-1958 catalog my first "rose portraits" appeared--In it he wrote, "This edition I fell will prove a milestone for you--" It was my last "Copy No. 1"--for he died June, 1957." "For the past two years I've done my humble best to fulfill his wish that I "carry on along the lines we together worked so hard to create, maintaining our ideals of quality and service and especially the survival of the most worthy old roses." |
5. Fisher, John, The Companion to Roses, 1986. Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England. Inside dust jacket: "The background to this enchanting and beloved flower has been thoroughly researched by John Fisher, and The Companion to Roses is the result. Covering equally the serious botanical point and the diverting legend, it is the ultimate reference book for all those who have ever wanted to know the origins of a favorite rose, the precise meaning of a nurserymen's English, what pest it is that is ravaging their roses and how to deal with it, how to keep cut roses in good condition..." |
6. Everett, T.H., editor, New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening, 1967. Greystone Press, New York. From title page: " ...with contributions from twenty horticulturists and authorities in the United States and Canada - Growers, Breeders, Exhibitors, Plantsmen, Writers, Lecturers, Professors, Editors and Superintendents of Famous Estates, who are Experts in all Fields of Horticulture, including Pests ant Their Control." |
7. Wright, Walter P., Roses and Rose Gardens, 1927, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd, London.  From the preface: " The Rose is more than a beautiful and popular flower, it is a great public institution. Up to a few years ago it was little more than an exhibition flower, it is now grown in nearly every garden. The present volume deals with the modern popular aspects of Rose growing, without, however, ignoring exhibiting. It shows how beautiful gardens may be made with Roses, and what a rich store of floral material is at the service of growers in the best modern varieties." Chapters: Of the Grace, Beauty and Fragrance of the Rose; Of the History of the Rose; Of the Types of Roses and Their Classification; Of Roses and Humanity; Of the Place in Which Rose May Be Grown; Of Rose Gardens; Of the Best Soils and Manures for Roses; Of the Best Stocks for Roses; and Propagation by Budding, Grafting, Layering, Seed, and Cuttings; Of the Planting of Roses; Of the Pruning of Roses; Of the Training of Climbing Roses; Of the Rose as an Exhibition Flower; Of the Rose Under Glass; Of the Rose as a Cut Flower; Of Roses in Town Garden; Of Sweet Roses; Of Selections of Roses for Various Purposes The painting on the right is from page 15. Caption: "Roses, Lilies, and Marigolds. Painted by Beatrice Parsons." |
8. Thomas, Graham S., The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, 1994, Sagapress/Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.  From the "note on the new edition": "This volume brings together The Old Shrub Roses (first published 1955), Shrub Roses Today (first published 1962), and Climbing Roses Old and New (first published 1965). Fine new illustrations have been added, and new information and addenda have been incorporated." From the inside of the dust cover: "Graham Stuart Thomas is world famous for his work in gathering and popularizing old and new shrub roses. He is a photographer and artist as well as a writer on many aspects of horticulture." The pencil drawing on the right is by GS Thomas and can be found in his book. The caption reads: "DRAWING 22. The creamy white, repeat-flowering, climbing species Rosa gigantea. It is a tender rose from Upper Burma, etc. which gave the Tea-scent and long petals to hybrids of the last century and more." |
9. American Rose Society, What Every Rose-Grower Should Know, 1931, J. Horace McFarland Company, Harrisburg, PA.  "The Reason For This Work. The Ambition of the American Rose Society--"To increase the general interest in the cultivation; and improve the standard of excellence of the Rose for all people"-- is the basis for the issue of this little book. If it had to be given a differnent title, it could have been called "A Rose Primer." Yet it is more than the elementary book usually called a primer, for in these pages are helps to carry a rose-friend forward toward fine accomplishment." The drawing on the left is found on page 8. It's caption reads: "One of the Old-fashioned Roses" |
10. Allen, R.C., Roses For Every Garden, 1954, M. Barrow and Company, Inc., New York.  From the forward by the author in 1947: "I have come to believe that there is no despair so deep it cannot be alleviated a little by the sight of a rose and no man or woman so insensitive to beauty that a rose will not appeal. And, of course, anyone with a little soil and sunlight can grow roses. ....This book is intended to strip rose culture of its complications and to emphasize only those practices essential to success. You will find here much of the why, as well as the how, because I believe that an understanding of principles helps to make rose growing easy. It removes bewilderment or uncertainty and, with success, the growing of roses becomes a rich and satisfying experience" The photo on the right is on page 113 and is "Eclipse, HT". |
11. Thomson, Richard, Old Roses For Modern Gardens, 1959, D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc.,  New
York.From the preface by the author: "The rose has had a long and interesting history. The story of the rose is continuous drama from the beginnings of history to the the present. In this book, I will endeavor to place it before you. Together with the story, and appended to the account of each rose group, are descriptions and evaluations of the old varieties which I have grown....No attempt has been made to list and describe every old rose which is known or has been mentioned in other texts. Only those which I have grown and enjoyed, or in a few cases, closely observed in other gardens, have been included." The photo on the left is plate XVI and is "Georg Arends (Early Hybrid Tea)" |
12. Utterback, Christine with Ruggiero, Michael, The Serious Gardener™ Reliable Roses, 1997, The New York Botanical Garden, Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York. From the dust jacket inside: "In Reliable Roses, The New York Botanical Garden, one of America's most venerable botanical institutions, shares its 105 years of experience with gardeners across the country. Master gardener Mike Ruggiero, garden writer Christian Utterback, and series editor Tom Christopher take gardeners to the next level of experience in rose cultivation." |
13. Vecera, Ludvik, Classic Roses: A Concise Guide in Colour, 1989 edition, illustrated by Firina Kaplická, Chartwell  Books, Inc.,
Secaucus, New Jersey.This is an interesting little book first published in 1971 in Great Britain, but copyrighted in Artia, Prague, Czechoslovakia. It contains the history, descriptions, superstitions, and legends of roses. Included are 88 descriptions and watercolors of species roses, OGR, ramblers, HTs, and floribundas. Most of the roses in this book are, however, hybrid teas and floribundas. The most recent rose in the book is 'Nordia' a floribunda from 1966. The painting on the right is from page 224: "ROSA x ODORATA (ANDREWS) SWEET. Hybrid from R. chinensis x R. gigantea from western China" |
14. Pemberton, Rev. Joseph H., Roses: Their History, Development, and Cultivation, 1908, Longmans, Green, and Co., London.  From the preface by the author, breeder of the hybrid musks: "In the latter half of the nineteenth century the rose was regarded primarily as an exhibitor's flower, and books on its cultivation, although useful to all growers, were written chiefly from an exhibitors point of view. But fashion has changed; the rose is now extensively grown for garden and house decoration, for which no flower is more adaptable or more popular. Species, hybrids of species, varieties old and new, summer flowering and perpetual, roses for pillars and pergolas, for bedding purposes and specimen bushes, all are in demand. The rose-grower's horizon is wider than it used to be, and it is the hope of affording assistance in the cultivation of these many and varied classes of the Rose this book is offered." The painting on the left is from the frontispiece and is captioned: "ROSA CANINA (Dog Rose) from Flora Danica." |
15. Rockwell, F.F. and Grason, Ester C., The Rockwells' Complete Book of Roses, 1958, Doubleday and Company, Inc., Garden City, New York.  From the forward: "Nevertheless, not one home in hundreds, the country over, possesses the number of rosebushes that its occupants might well be enjoying. This is particularly true of roses of types other than those which are grown in rose gardens or in beds devoted to roses alone. The really tough and hardy climbers, and the many shrub and hedge roses, requiring no more care than the average flowering shrub, merit much more general use than they now enjoy...It is the hope of the authors that these pages may help inspire the homeowner with limited time for gardening to make greater use of these roses that demand little in the way of cultural attention." The picture on the right is from page 201, and the captions first sentence reads: "Air layering-a modern application of an ancient Chinese technique-is easily accomplished." |
16. Wilson, Helen Van Pelt, Climbing Roses, 1955, M. Barrow and Company, Inc. New York. From the dust jacket: " In fact, fragrance and fun might be considered the keynotes of this book. Many "tall" roses are suggested for growing as climbers, among them some of the most scented of the old roses and the high-reaching hardy perpetuals. There's plenty of sound cultural advice, too, especially on pruning. " Chapter Titles: Loveliest of Plants. The Roses That "Climb", Classifying the Climbers, The Choice Is Yours, Ramblers and Trailers, The Most Fragrant Climbers, Could-Be Climbers with Fragrance, Places for Climbers, Companions for Climbers, Planting Is No Problem, Culture Is Simple, and Pruning with Purpose. |
17. Delbard, Henri, Diary of a Rose Lover, 1996, Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York. Much discussion about rose and floral scent, color combinations, and the sensuality of roses amidst beautiful watercolors of modern roses. 72 pg. From the title page: "Two like-minded people joined in writing and illustrating this notebook during the summer of 1994 at the village of Malicorne, in the centre of France. Of course none of this would have come about if I had not been born nearby in 1944, surrounded by roses, sharing with my tow brothers, François and Guy, our parents' love and their passion for nature."  Watercolors by Fabrice Moireau. The painting on the left is found on page 17. The caption reads: "Souvenir d'Amour "Dragée" (Sugoured almonds), a bride's rose with an unforgettable scent. Selected in July 1994." |
18. Harkness, Jack, Roses, 1978, J.M Dent and Sons, Ltd., London. From the dust jacket: "Jack Harkness, who is internationally known as a rose breeder, now puts the whole genus in its natural order, inserting the descendants of the thirteen groups of wild roses where they seem to belong -- as family likeness, tradition or commons sense suggest. He traces the history of the rose, demonstrating how it has been develeoped by men of may races, often acting unknowingly as an international brotherhood, and discussing the most important roses, some for their historic reputation, others for their present popularity." Chapter titles: What is a Rose?, How Roses Are Made and Grown, Introducing What Follows, Simplicifoliae and Hybrids, Hesperrhodos, Platyrhodon and Hybrids, Eurosa........The Heights, The Colours, The Flowering Times, the Perfume, The Hips, The Stars |
19. Westcott, Cynthia, Anyone Can Grow Roses, 1960, 3rd edition, D Van Nostrand Company, Ltd., New York. Inside dust jacket: "Dr. Westcott....is one of our best known plant pathologists, but her greatest enthusiasm has always been the rose. This book condenses years of study and practice, and the results of long experimentation in her own test gardens with new varieties and pest controls. There is not rose book quite lit it either in its understanding of the home gardener's problems and hopes, or the compactness with which essential rose growing facts are presented" Chapter titles: Growing Roses, Choosing Roses, Living With Roses, Showing Roses, Propagating Roses, Rose Enemies |
20. Steen , Nancy, The Charm of Old Roses, 1987, first published 1966, Milldale Press, Inc., Washington, D.C.  Inside dust jacket: " Nancy and David Steen established their garden in Remuera, Auckland, in 1944 and it became a flowering dictionary of old roses, many of them introduced to New Zealand by early whalers and missionaries, farmers and goldminers. Many varieties still flourish in half-forgotten pioneer cemeteries -- for the rose, above all others, was the dear familiar of the exiles. This is a work of outstanding horticultural merit and interest, written after nearly a lifetime of collecting a cultivating old roses and studying their preferences in soil type and location." The photo above is from plate 39 and is captioned: " Honorine de Brabant and fuchsias" Chapter titles: Gallica Roses, Damask Roses, The White Rose of York and Other Members of the Alba family, The Rose of the Painters: R. centifolia, Moss Roses, Small Roses for the Rock Garden, Tall China Roses and their Tea-scented Relations, Bourbon Roses, Portland Roses, Hybrid Perpetuals, and some Early Hybrid Teas, Striped Roses, Musk Roses, Climbers and Ramblers, Roses from the Roadsides, Fuchsias and Old Roses, Shrub Roses, Hardy Rugosa Roses, Roses of the Desert, Roses in a White Garden, The Garden Plan |
21. Thomas; Graham Stuart, A Garden of Roses, Watercolours by Alfred Parsons, RA, 1987, Salem House Publishers, Topsfield, MA  Publisher's note: "In the early years of this century, Ellen Ann Willmott, a wealthy English gardening enthusiast, commissioned the painter, Alfred Parson, RA, to record her roses for posterity. His painstaking work over several years resulted in 132 meticulously detailed watercolours, but his magnificent achievement was virtually unrecognized as a result of the inadequacies of the book in which they were reproduced, The Genus Rosa. After Miss Willmott's death, the paintings passed, by way of the Cory Bequest, into the keeping of the Lindley Library at the Royal Horticultural Society in London, in association with which A Garden of Roses in published. The plates are reproduced from Parson's original watercolours in order to achieve the fidelity that was intended but never achieved in The Genus Rosa. In A Garden of Roses, the distinguished authority on roses, Graham Stuart Thomas, has chosen and described 70 of Alfred Parson's finest pictures for The Genus Rosa." The watercolor to the right is from page 81 and is Rose 'Fortune's Double Yellow' |
22. Schneider, Peter, Burpee Expert Gardener Series: Peter Schneider on Roses, 1995, Macmillan, New York.  From the Introduction by the author: "Over the past fifteen years, I have grown over fourteen hundred different rose varieties. In this book, I describe the ones I have enjoyed the most. Some of them have names you will recognize; others might be new. I hope that you will try some of them, and enjoy them too." The photo on the left is found on page 154 and is captioned: "Perhaps the most refined of Dr. Buck's freckled roses, 'Dorcas' has all the qualities of a great garden rose." Chapter titles: Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, Floribundas, Polyanthas, Miniatures, Climbers, Species Roses, Old Garden Roses, Shrubs, Tree Roses, Cultural Notes |
23. Shepherd, Roy E., History of the Rose, 1954, The Macmillan Company, New York.  From page 5: "The major types of garden roses now grown have been derived from varieties of two or more of the following eight species roses: Rosa chinensis, R. damascena, R. foetida, R. moschata, R. multiflora, R. odorata, R. rugosa, and R. Wichuraiana. It is interesting to note that these are all of Asiatic origin, and that the species of other continents have been of little value in creating our modern horticultural varieties. This is due to the fact that Asia is the native habitat of the roses that are freely recurrent in bloom, the only ones that bear yellow flowers, and those with a tendency to trailing or climbing habit." The photo on the right is illustration #15 and is captioned: "R. cinnamomea plena, a once-popular rose that is now becoming rare. (Roche photo, courtesy of Flower Garden)" Chapter titles: General history, A group of climbing roses, Chinese roses and some historic hybrids, Four Asiatics and a new world trio, The French rose and its relatives, Two old world roses, North American roses, Rugosa roses and their allies, Yellows-Austrian, Persian, and Scotch, The hybrid perpetuals, The polyanthas. |
24. Dorra, Mary Tonetti., Beautiful American Rose Gardens, 1999, Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York. From the dust cover: " With more than 250 color illustrations, Beautuful American Rose Gardens offers both intimate views of individual roses as well as bird's-eye views of overall garden designs. Tips from the owners, caretakers, and designers bring to life the fun, challenge, and joy that theses gardens inspire. The garden plans and a thorough source list are a great starting point for new garden planners and an excellent reference for veterans." Chapter titles: Well bred in New England and on the Atlantic seaboard, Confederate roses in the grand manner, At the center of the country, Sun-Blessed gardens of California, The Northwest Passage, A beautiful rose garden guide. |
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