The Ultimate Rose Book Book

The spectacularly successful Ultimate Rose Book is back in a thoroughly updated and revised edition. Rosarian Stirling Macoboy's book is a classic, not just for its beautiful pictures and comprehensive coverage, but also for its author's good-humored, opinionated observations and his selection of 1,500 rose varieties to feature out of tens of thousands.

The expanded edition features 300 new varieties, selected for their beauty, fragrance, hardiness, and popularity, as well as new features on the history of the rose, the renaissance of garden roses, climbers, and ramblers, and great rose gardens of the world. There are also updated chapters on the classification of roses, as well as a glossary and bibliography. The 2,000 color photographs include the varieties named in the book.

An indispensable reference that possesses visual beauty and literary wit and soul, The Ultimate Rose Book is for gardeners and rose lovers everywhere.

Library Journal

This massive volume by world-renowned horticulturist Macoboy is encyclopedic in scope, portraying over 1500 roses selected for their beauty, fragrance, and popularity. Although it contains brief information on rose cultivation and a scattering of features on such subjects as the rose in music, the heart of the book is the three alphabetical sections describing individual roses. The author uses the 1979 classification of the World Federation of Rose Societies; his main categories are wild roses, modern and old garden roses grouped together, and miniatures. Each entry includes a color photograph; information on the rose's history, cultivation, and parentage; and whether it is repeat flowering or fragrant. Roses are listed according to the name under which they were first released; the index provides access by later names. Beautiful to look at, this book will be most useful to readers looking for more information about varieties than is provided in growers' catalogs. Recommended for large or specialized collections.-- Molly Newling, Piscataway P.L., N.J.