Customer Reviews

Classic Roses

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This is not a coffee table book. Though the pages are high-quality paper, the photos excellent and plentiful, and the binding high-quality, the book is essentially a meaty reference. If there were a college course on roses, this might serve as a texbook.

Beales starts as most authors do by talking about rose history, culture and using roses in the garden. It is clear that Beales is not so interested in roses as show-bench trophy fodder but as vital elements of a user-friendly and colorful garden. This sentiment shows in his selection of cultivars.

The bulk of the book is descriptions of roses. Beales has developed the most complete shorthand available for expressing all the things you wish to about a rose: how well it does in the shade, which diseases it gets, when it blooms, how big and bushy the plant is. This means that his text entries can focus on the facets of the rose that make it unique in the garden. In other words, he manages to convey the same amount of information as would a book twice the heft of this very hefty tome.

The book does a commendable job covering all old rose classes, climbing roses, shrub roses, species, and near-species cultivars. It is the over-fat classes of Hybrid Perpetuals and Hybrid Teas, that have pricipally recieved the editorial hatchet. And since Beales considers only 2000 or so cultivars, this book is good for culling out the considerable amount of dross among roses - especially among hybrid teas.

If you know you will never use roses for any purpose than cutting or showing on a bench, this book will be of only peripheral use. But if you yearn to understand how roses can work in a garden setting, this is one of the best buys around.

If you want from pictures to propagation this is one of the best books I own. Equally at home on the coffee table or in the garden. If you have ever planted two roses both 3 to 4 feet only to find you have Tom Thumb and Audrey from the Little Shop of Horrors growing side by side,you will appreciate the simple color, size and height chart.

Beales gives each rose its own set of likes dislikes etc. in a handy icon format. He is as dedicated as an English nanny to the uniqueness of each rose's culture and care.

The only drawback to the book is that it is directed to the English climate. So if one lives in zones 7-10 in the United States or elsewhere some of the roses listed as hardy will the rose from hell to grow. Others may be easy that are listed as delicate. But this is a fairly minor problem.

If you want to landscape, plant or simply look as roses this is a great book.

I purchased this beauty along with Botanica's Roses, from Amazon. WOW was I delighted! Between the 2 I have almost every rose info I could imagine. It is well worth the money and a must have for every rosarian. I have 40 roses so far and found the info very useful in my continued purchases. (ex: I live in the NW and have wet weather...many roses dislike wet and don't open properly. The books reveal which are poor choices for my such climate. Now that is USEFUL information!)

Of course it goes without saying that the author knows his roses and the pictures are, well, drop-dead gorgeous (as are in the Botanica's Roses book.)

A 100% must have, along with Botanica's.

From pictures to propagation this "the" book to own about old and new classic roses. It is equally at home on the coffee table or in the garden. The illustrations are beautiful and accurate. But it is above all a well planned comprehensive garden guide.

If you have ever planted two roses, both labled 3 to 4 feet, only to find you have Tom Thumb and Audrey from the "Little Shop of Horrors" growing side by side, you will love the a handy color and height chart.

Beales is as dedicated as an English nanny to the uniqueness of each rose's culture and care. Diseases and resistance, pruning, sun or part shade are all listed with each rose in a handy icon format. Especially helpful for problem spots in the garden or problems specific to regions.

Its one drawback is that it discounts the higher zones 7-10. If one lives in these zones the "easy" rose may be the rose from hell to grow and a "delicate rose" may be a Charles Atlas. This is not a problem except in specific cases. It is easily overcome by checking local nurseries or rose growers. However, it is worth noting for those of you who buy roses on line or by mail order.

A wonderfully well organized and helpful book for the beginner or the experienced gardener.

If you want to landscape, plant or simply look as roses this book covers all bases.

Publishers, please bring "Classic Roses" by Peter Beales back into print! I bought a copy for a friend and now I can't bear to give it up. It has everything for the rosarian: thousands of enticing color photographs and descriptions (the author's own collection of roses numbers well over 2,000 species and varieties); extensive chapters on using roses in the landscape (even if your 'landscape' happens to be an apartment terrace), the care and cultivation of roses, the history of roses; and at the back of the encyclopediac text, there are extensive appendixes, indices, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for further reading.

Peter Beales is also a pleasure to read--very British; very knowledgeable; and it is very obvious that he loves his subject. I have only two minor suggestions for "Classic Roses" if it is once again revised: include U.S.A. climate zones for the roses; include photographs of all (not most) of the roses (I'll bet the author wanted to do this and the publishers wouldn't let him).

As fond as I am of my friend, "Classic Roses" and I are never going to part company.

As its name implies, Classic Roses emphasizes older garden roses and species roses. Its organization by subgenus and section (e.g., "Synstylae") is useful to botanists, but more idiosyncratic for gardeners, especially as most modern roses have ancestors from many species. The book does cover Hybrid Teas and more recent introductions, even including over 50 of David Austin's "New English Roses" up to and including `Scepter'd Isle' (1996). It is not as easy (i.e., a 2-step process via the index) to find specific cultivars as in the similar-sized and also excellent American Rose Society Encyclopedia of Roses, but this book has slightly more cultural information on most varieties, as well as longer - and excellent - chapters on rose history, "Roses in the Landscape" and "The Cultivation of Roses." This book also has a very useful appendix of cultivars by height and narrowly defined (e.g., 4 different yellows) colors. To actually come up with my personal "Rose List" (a 1-page Excel sheet I bring to nurseries) I have primarily used the much smaller (200 page) but in its own way very useful Peter Schneider on Roses - which is limited to that rosarian 's favorite varieties - but of course one also has to have a reference tome or two.

As its name implies, Classic Roses emphasizes older garden roses and species roses. Its organization by subgenus and section (e.g., "Synstylae") is useful to botanists, but more idiosyncratic for gardeners, especially as most modern roses have ancestors from many species. The book does cover Hybrid Teas and more recent introductions, even including over 50 of David Austin's "New English Roses." It is not as easy (i.e., a 2-step process via the index) to find specific cultivars as in the similar-sized and also excellent "American Rose Society Encyclopedia of Roses," but this book has slightly more cultural information on most varieties, as well as longer - and excellent - chapters on rose history, "Roses in the Landscape" and "The Cultivation of Roses." This book also has a very useful appendix of cultivars by height and narrowly defined (e.g., 4 different yellows) colors. To actually come up with my personal "Rose List" (a 1-page Excel sheet I bring to nurseries) I have primarily used the much smaller (200 page) but in its own way very useful "Peter Schneider on Roses" - which is limited to that rosarian 's favorite varieties - but of course one also has to have a reference tome or two.

Anyone interested in heritage roses will find this book to be invaluable! The information is comprehensive, while being very readable, and the organization of the book is first class.

I have a library of books on roses and this is my all time favorite. Beales provides photos, commentary, and a host of information for a seemingly endless selection of roses. It seems to be this man's entire life's work between two covers. "Classic Roses" has been for me a "take me away" relaxing read, as well as my primary resource book. Be forewarned, the rose addiction starts here!

Oh, how I love this book! I'm a sucker for garden books, especially ones with lovely pictures and this one is one of my favorites. Peter Beale writes about roses as if they were family members; some are amiable and attractive, and some have nasty thorns, but all have some redeeming quality. This affectionate and slightly dotty tone carries over into rose culture, and his "of course, you can do it" advice had me mixing up soil in the garage while snow was still on the ground last year, and my roses have never looked better. I was persuaded by Mr. Beale's eloquent assurances that the summer show of once-blooming roses is worth passing up the sparse flushes of the more popular repeat bloomers, and planted The Alchemist and Dortmund. He was so right! Both were absolutely stunning, even less than full grown and I can't wait to see them explode next year.

This is a book for both inspiration and perspiration and Mr. Beales pulls no punches. There are some conditions all roses must have to flourish, and while some are forgiving of less than ideal circumstances, others will sulk and die. Mr. Beales identifies these, and discusses different types of roses, their histories and general culture and this alone is worth purchasing the book. I especially loved the story about how the English Navy allowed shipments of roses intended for the Empress Josephine's famous rose gardens at Malmaison to reach their destination during the Napoleonic Wars.

This is a great reference to keep within easy reach of the stack of plant catalogues to be pored over this winter, and is highly recommended for anyone who's been thinking of growing roses and for anyone who already is!