Customer Reviews

Growing Roses in Cold Climates

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The most valuable part of this book is the section that rates each rose. It gives a 1-5 star rating and a detailed description of the characteristics of that plant. It tells you why it deserved 5 stars or what is wrong with the rose so it didn't earn 5 stars! The other part of this book gives detailed and easy to understand tips on how to plant, feed, and protect your roses. The pictures are excellent and this is a hard book to put down. The author is obviously a lover of roses and not just a horticulturist!

Not only is this book the best reference, but the only one that gives novices as well as the advanced growers the information on growing healthy roses in the colder zones. It classifies the different types of roses that can be grown well, how to plant them, prune them, maintain them, select them and where to buy them. If non-hardy hybrid teas are your choice, it has excellent pictures giving the step-by-step method of tipping roses for winter protection. Roses hardy for the north are all listed - the old garden roses up to the newly hybridized Canadian hardy roses. Anyone wanting to grow roses in the north needs this excellent reference!

This book is well organized and has a wonderful rating system on cold weather roses. Evrything you need to know about roses in cold climates in one place.

I have over 30 books about roses and growing roses, but little information on growing them in cold climates - I still don't. I certainly am not a rose expert, but I have grown roses for approximately 45 years in various climatic conditions from cold winters in Ontario Canada, very warm summers & mild winters in South Carolina, hot humid summers & mild winters in Louisiana, and very hot summers plus winters with extreme temperature fluctuations in Texas.

You may wonder why someone living in Texas would purchase this book - I purchased it because of my desire to increase my knowledge about roses, plus I am considering the possibility of moving north again.

This book contains a lot of good useful standard information (70-80% of book) about planting roses, fertilizing them, pruning them, etc; however there is liitle real information about growing in cold climates except for the old "Minnesota Tip Method" for winter protection where the rose is tipped over and buried.

A significant portion of the varieties & types (families) of roses described are not suitable for the average rose grower to attempt in cold climates. The authors even mention this, but still waste a lot of valuable space describing these roses. I found little that would help me choose suitable rose varieties for cold climates, if I didn't want to bury them for the winter.

There is virtually no description of the rose groups specifically breed for northern climates (without burying plant for winter) such as: Griffith Buck Roses (breed to withstand cold winters of north central USA), Explorer Roses (breed to withstand humid, cold winters of eastern Canada & northeastern USA) or Parkland Roses(breed to withstand dry cold winters on northern prairies).

There is virtually nothing explaining why you should purchase either 'grafted' (growth bud grafted on different variety's roots)roses or 'self rooted' (rose cutting rooted and grown into sellable size) roses. The only reason to buy grafted roses in north is if the desired variety does not grow strongly on its own roots. Some varieties will not survive on their own roots, but this is definitely in the minority. If this grafted rose winter kills to the ground, you have lost your variety and the best that you can hope for is that the difference variety grows from the root stock - in most cases you would not want the variety that would grow from root stock, as root stocks are not chosen for their flowers but for ease of propagation.

If the rose survives satisfactory on its own roots, then it definitely makes sense to purchase this type of desired variety. If it winter kills to the ground, there is still a good chance that rose will regenerate from it roots. Almost all rose varieties can be purchased on their own roots, but some nurseries may charge more for them.

The main reason that many roses are sold as budded/grafted is that it is more economical for growers. Every growth bud on "mother" plant could be used to graft on root stock to create sellable roses; but there would only be a few shoots on "mother" plant that could be used to root and create sellable roses.

I would not recommend this book unless you are looking for the standard rose information, in which case there are more economical alternatives.

Excellent book to have for any rose lover. The only thing I would change is probably that the book doesn't cover 'ownroot' roses just bareroot. Otherwise it's great! Shipping was fast and done well. Thankyou!