Botanica's Roses: The Encyclopedia of Roses (Hardcover)

~ Peter Beales (Editor), David Austin (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

An exceptional reference on one of the world's favorite flowers. After introductory information on the rose's history and culture, there's about 600 pages of terrific photos and accurate descriptions. Aside from the thousands of cultivars listed, there's also an excellent section on wild roses. A very useful reference table summarizes the main features of each rose.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

1000 Color Photographs

Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: Welcome Rain; 2 ed edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566491762
• ISBN-13: 978-1566491761
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,299,174 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The VERY BEST book on Roses!, January 10, 2000

By A Customer

I have grown roses for many years but each year I manage to find room for more so I need a book that will give me a description and photo of the rose I am looking to buy. I use lists of roses to grow in my area from the local rose society. These lists only contain names so I needed to look up their descriptions in my books but I could never find a book that had every rose I needed to look up, invariably I would have to search through several books and even then miss a few. It was so aggrivating, most rose books are small, they cover only a couple hundred which increased the chances that you wouldn't find the rose you wanted in a particular book. FINALLY I have one source to use, everything I need in one book. The photos are numerous and beautiful. The descriptions give you the type of information you need. This book is superb, you will only end up spending the price of this book on numerous smaller books and still be unsatisfied so you might as well get it now. I cant say enough good things about this book, I waited a long time for it.

57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Botanica's Roses is an essential tool for the rosarian., April 20, 1999

By A Customer

Botanica's Roses has displaced five books on my desk. It's become the first stop rose reference in our office for dealing with inquiries about roses from overseas. The descriptions are authoritative and the photographs are accurate. With 6,000+ roses listed, chances are that you'll find what you're looking for.

The list of contributors reads like an all-star team of rosarians from around the world: Peter Beales - UK (on Wild Roses), Dr. Tommy Cairns - USA(Introduction), Walter Duncan - Australia, Gwen Fagan - South Africa, William Grant - USA, Ken Grapes - UK (on Cultivating Roses), Peter Harkness - UK, Kevin Hughes - Australia, John Mattock - UK (on The Rose and Its Heritage), and David Ruston - Australia.

Second only to a good pair of pruners, Botanica's Roses should be considered a must-have by all rose lovers.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Annotated dictionary....., February 24, 2001

By	Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Although BOTANICA'S ROSES is described as an encyclopedia, the floral entries are more like annotated dictionary entries than encyclopedia articles. Each entry is succinct, ususally a paragraph or two, and contains pertinant information for the rose grower such as recommended growing zone, but I would have liked more information. ROSES is probably relatively exhaustive, that is it lists most of the extant roses. I was able to find information about two roses I purchased at the garden center last year that I could find no where else.

I own several other rose books, and find that no one book has all the information I require. For example, I have just purchased a 'Blanc Double De Corbert' rose. BOTANICA'S tells me the rose is a modern, hybrid rugosa, white, repeat flowering. A paragraph of about 100 words in tiny type tells me something about the doubtful heritage of the plant and that it might produce orange-red hips. The entry also lists the growing zones, the parentage prefaced with "possibly" and awards the rose has received.

THE ULTIMATE ROSE BOOK by Stirling Macoboy tells me the double white from the village of Corbert in France is a cross between Rosa rugosa and the Tea Rose 'Sombreuil' according to Cochet-Cochet who raised the rose in 1891. the ULTIMATE entry also tells me the flowers rot in wet conditions and there are no hips.

SMITH AND HAWKINS 100 OLD ROSES FOR THE AMERICAN GARDEN says 'Blanc Double de Corbert' will grow and thrive under extreme conditions and produce stongly scented blooms with a bumper crop of tomato-rose hips. "All in all this is one tough customer."

In THE ORGANIC ROSE GARDEN, Liz Druitt says 'Blanc Double de Corbert' is a hybrid rugosa introduced in 1892 and wonderful for growing in the upper south. It can withstand heat, probably because it has a little Tea blood from it's 'Sombreuil' ancestor. Blanc even works well in partial shade. In fact, she says, it likes a little afternoon shade. And, Blanc produces successive crops of orange-red hips as it blooms all summer.

What is the gardener to believe? Well, Macoboy is English and undoubtedly, Blanc, which comes from a warmer dryier area of France does better in a warmer drier climate--not England. These various entries show you cannot hope to grow roses unless you were born with a green thumb and/or can consult more than one reference. BOTANICA'S ROSES is a pretty good reference book for American gardeners attempting to grow roses.