Product Description

The spectacularly successful "Ultimate Rose Book", first published in 1993, is back in a thoroughly updated and revised edition. Stirling Macoboy's book has become a classic among rose lovers, not just for its beautiful pictures and comprehensive coverage, but also thanks to its author's good-humoured and opinionated observations and selections. Out of tens of thousands of rose varieties, he chose 1,500 for this definitive book.The new edition includes 300 varieties that were not in the previous one, selected for their beauty, fragrance, hardiness and popularity, as well as new chapters on the history of the rose, the renaissance of garden roses, climbers and ramblers and great rose gardens of the world. This is in addition to updated chapters on the classification of roses, wild roses, old garden roses, modern roses, miniatures and multi-floras, rose cultivation, special roses and rose breeders, as well as a glossary and bibliography. The 2,000 colour photographs include all of 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127507 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 488 pages

About the Author
Stirling Macoboy, who died in 2005, was born in Victoria, Australia. His career in horticulture took him all over the world and he was the author and photographer of more than forty books on gardening. Macoboy came from a long line of gardeners: his great-grandfather, William Stirling, was a professional nurseryman in Australia in the 1840s and '50s; his grandfather was a well-known amateur gardener; and he was a descendant of the Reverend William Mason, author of the 1783 classic The English Garden. Tommy Cairns currently serves as President of the World Federation of Rose Societies for 2003-2006. An authority on all aspects of growing roses, Cairns is a frequent contributor to many rose publications. He was awarded the Klima Medal of the American Rose Society for excellence in rose education in 2000 and the prestigious Dean Hole Medal of the Royal National Rose Society in 2005. The Scottish born Cairns lives in Studio City, California.

Customer Reviews

This is an exhaustive treatment of roses for any plant lover
I purchased this book in 1994 for $50 I didn't really have and never regretted doing so. If you adore roses of any sort, want to know floribunda from grandiflora, or just want your two bushes to survive; you must have it. I am cheap and passionate about horticulture. If you need to know about roses, buy only this book! Anything else is about as useful as a government pamphlet.

informative yet picturesque guide for roses around the world

For sometime I have been searching for a rose encyclopedia which not only reviews roses but also provides PHOTOS FOR EACH VARIETY REVIEWED. Alas, this book is the closest I am ever going to get!

In this book more than 1,500 roses around the world are discussed in detail. For each entry a description containing plant history, appearance, (e.g. flower color) and growing tips is accompanied with a COLOR (quite astonishing and beautiful!) photograph. In addition to these reviews, there are articles featuring the history and cultural significance of roses. Furthermore, the author includes several quick lists for roses with special qualities (e.g. fragrance). I find these lists very useful and rather handy during my plant and garden theme selection process.

I do have one complaint about the arrangement of the non-climbing roses. The author places the non-clmbing roses in the same category with climbing varieties. For someone who just wants to look for a climbing rose, there is no quick way of identifying one but to read through the entries within each category. Unfortunately, I can not find a quick list on that subject either. Oh, well, no one (in this case, no book) is perfect.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book to any reader. In fact, this book will no doubt take one's breath away. If you have ever wondered how a person could get "hooked" on roses, just take a look at the book cover (a floral arrangement of roses). Time to order!

Excellent book for gardeners and non-gardeners alike
A wonderful selection of roses with beautiful photos and useful information. The perfect book for the armchair gardener to use to compile their wish list. Almost 10 years old now, so an update for 2003 would be most useful.