Product Description

Provides the comprehensive information needed to grow roses simply and safely, the organic way.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #373690 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Booklist
Druitt, cohost of the PBS series The New Garden Journal, offers readers a comprehensive guide to growing roses organically. She discusses rose garden design, soil preparation, planting, propagating, weeding, watering, fertilizing, pruning, and disease and pest control. For 175 roses, Druitt provides information on name, class, color, fragrance (if any), size, blooming capability, shade tolerance, and the most appropriate growing zones. A final chapter contains recipes, such as candied rose petals, rose petal jam and pound cake, and rose hip tea, soup, sauce, and jelly. George Cohen

Review
"This book has good information on rose culture and organic alternatives to chemical sprays. But the best part is the extensive listing of roses that tend to be healthy without much help from the gardener - my kind of rose." - The Times-Saturday Circulation, (U.S.); "Any rose gardener will enjoy this useful book. The organic approach will make it that much better." - Dallas Morning News; "This is a delicious book! The Organic Rose Garden, is a polished feast from paper to layout to writing. The spread of photos is a banquet to the eyes." - Small Press; "There is no better source on sensible rose growing." - Mobile; "This is a book specifically for today's rose gardener." - Caller-Times"

About the Author
Liz Druitt is a graden writer, designer, consultant, and experienced Rose Rustler. Her gradening articles have appeared in Fine Gardening, Flower and Garden, Horticulture, and numerous other publications. She makes her home in Birmingham, Alabama.

Customer Reviews

Best for a limited audience
The paperback edition of this book may differ in format from the hardback edition. In the paperback edition, the color pictures are small and of poor quality. Photos intended to illustrate particular techniques (weaving a climbing rose on a pillar, for instance) are simply too small to provide any visual information at all. Not all roses are pictured, which is a drawback in a book that leans heavily on older roses.

There's a good index, which is helpful, because one ends up having to consult it often to pull together information about specific roses. Rather than include all data about zones, shade tolerance, size and more in each alphabetized annotation, there is a cumbersome table cross-referenced by class. Within the annotations, the author includes such observations as "more than worth the wait" and "I think this rose is really cute". Not everyone will find such informality off-putting, of course.

The book is not a useful survey for gardeners in places cooler than Zone 6. Given the constraints of the author's experiences and apparent research, perhaps the book would be of greatest interest and use to those in the author's home state of Texas.

A charming chapter on rose recipes, which really should be contemplated only by organic rose gardeners, concludes the book.

Pragmatic with a dash of humor....
You might want to read THE ORGANIC ROSE GARDEN by Liz Druitt even if you aren't planning on growing roses. Druitt has a wonderful sense of humor. For example, she says the rugosa rose must require a great deal of nitrogen since it has thorns designed to extract human blood. Each of the entries for her list of 100 is written in a friendly, helpful, and folksy way, helpful and not hokey.

Druitt's book contains a handy "Quick Reference Chart for Garden Form" with information organized by height: name; color; fragrance (***); size; repeat bloom; hips; shade tolerance; and Best in zones (4-9). The entries for roses in alpha order follow this chart.

Since ROSES was written for organic gardening, the reader is advised on organic methods. In a section entitled "Getting and Planting Roses" she describes the preliminary tasks the gardener must undertake to ensure she starts with good stock. She covers purchasing, layering, planting in containers and climbing roses. In "Maintaining the Roses" the reader learns about weeding, watering, fertilizing, pruning and seasonal care. In "Trouble Shooting" the author deals with pests. Because this is an organic book we learn about beneficial insects, nectary and shelter plants, and hedgerow barriers (to keep out the deer). Pests include the neighbor's dog (get a fence), fire ants (get the hormone 'Logic'); and other bugs--plant dill, garlic, or get out the hose.

All in all, this book is solid gold for the new or the old rose gardener and I recommend it.

Excellent Rose Guide for the South
This book is truly excellent if you live below the Mason-Dixon line and are just starting out with roses. She gives detailed coverage of a great many roses well adapted to the South, as well as growing roses without a lot of chemicals. I like this book so much, I carry it with me when I travel (which I do 3 wks/month), which tells you something. Beautiful pictures, good details on roses and great advice. I highly recommend this esp. if you are new to roses.