Roses

'What is this rose,' the great rosarian Graham Stuart Thomas asks, 'that enslaves gardeners?...Why, in short, does everyone love a rose, and what does it offer that other flowers lack?' Wayne Winterrowd posed this question to thirty-two eminent fellow gardeners, who join him in giving their highly original and engaging responses in this book. Michael Pollan, is 'dazzled, smitten...bowled over' by 'Maiden's Blush' (known in France as 'Cuisse de Nymphe Emue'), while Mirabel Osler honours Rosa sancta, the Holy Rose of Abyssinia, only to find that for others it may 'stink of the Fall'. Christopher Lloyd gleefully tells of rousting out him mother's extensive but troublesome collection at Great Dixter - allowing, though, a few indispensables to stay on, for, as he concedes, 'Some roses are worth struggling for, after all.' Winterrowd's contributors constitute a Who's Who of contemporary garden writers. Their highly personal essays are rich with reminiscence, with prejudice, with love remembered or recently experienced and sometimes with cantankerous personal opinion. Many offer fascinating historical information or valuable tips on culture.
All of them, whether with new passion or grudging admiration, celebrate the rose, a flower that has been treasured since pre-history and is reinvented in every generation. These spellbinding accounts are magnificently complemented by Pamela Stagg's vibrant watercolours. Roses is a handsome gift for any gardener, and essential reading for anyone who loves roses.