Of the some 60 books on roses I have or have owned, my favourite (British spelling--- I'm Canadian) is still Jack Harkness's Roses. Here was a hybrider with caustic wit and encyclopaedic knowledge of the plant.

Currently, the Quest-Ritsons' Encyclopedia of Roses offers some of the most reliable information on roses in various climates. There is a significant amount of eye-candy too (read: pictures).

One other, which I used to reread annually, is Stephen Scanniello's A Year of Roses, in which he gives a month by month guide to rose gardening as seen by his then job as head gardener of the Cranford Rose Garden, part of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

Neither the first, nor the last book have many pictures.

Others, I'm sure, will suggest other great books.

Happy reading,

Steve

BTW, if you're looking for used books, try the AddAll.com meta-search engine link below. It's awesome!

Here is a link that might be useful: AddAll.com

Elks--what a great resource. Don't need it now but it's good to know about it.

" an extraordinary hodge-podge of dutiful instruction, earnest research, hopeful fictions, sloppy sentimentality, confident autobiography, bad poetry and well-intended moralizing."

LOL!

Re. the OP, well, what kind of info are you interested in--culture, history, garden design, etc.? I personally use Liz Druitt's "The Organic Rose Garden" quite a bit for local culture tips. Also like Taylor's "Antique Roses for the South". But these may be too regional or directed to organic methods for you.

For variety information, Martin & Rix's atlases "The Quest for the Rose" & "Roses" have a lot of wonderful photos, but cultural notes are heavily slanted to British gardens.

Botanica's Roses is a wonderful huge photo atlas. "Modern Roses", of course, for breeder, parentage, intro date, etc.

ARE catalog for brief general descriptions of roses that do well in my area.

One of the most convenient, concise, easy to grab reference books for me is the latest *sob* Vintage catalog. But I like all kinds of books & have a ton of them. Michael Shoup's "Empress of the Garden" is a sort of rose porn--luscious photos of gorgeous plants & gardens. "The Ultimate Rose"--lots of photos, not much on culture. "Classic Roses"--lots of species & variety info. slanted to British climate.

If you are interested in old roses, I feel that Brent C. Dickerson's books are "must" readers.

Here is a link that might be useful: link for above

My first rose book i ever had when I wanted to start trying to grow roses is named, The Rose Expert by Dr. D.G.Hessayon. I literally have this book memorized. it is fantastic for the beginning rose gardener. I love that it starts with the history of roses and teaches you how to care for all the different types of roses.

I must say that I could curl up for a year of Sundays with the Harkness Roses... Used to check it out all the time at the library in the town I used to live in. My current library doesn't have this book. Hoping to receive it as a Birthday gift this summer

I second Scanniello! That book is an incredible resource. For history and point of view I really enjoy Graham Stuart Thomas' Old Roses combined edition.
I've also really enjoyed Keays' book.
Susan

Poor But Rose Rich,

Can you tell me more about the Keays' book please?

Steve

Mrs. Keays was an old rose detective. She describes many found roses and attempted to identify them. Her book is called "Old Roses" and it was a good read.

FROM HMF:
Back in the 1930s, a woman named Evelyn Keays found and identified many old roses. She frequently wrote articles for the Rose Annual about old roses. According to Ms. Hopper's article, it was Mrs. Keays who found the climber shown in the picture at the top of this page and misidentified it as Sombreuil. Early written descriptions of Mlle de Sombreuil mention a Bourbon influence, and fit the description of the foundling well enough to convince her that she had found that rose. Here is Mrs. Keays description of it:

"Sombreuil, 1851, came from a fine old garden sadly out of past glory. This rose differs from all those preceding by having a marked and distinguishable mixture of bourbon blood in the tea rose ancestry. The full, fragrant bloom is a fine expanded form, within which very strongly textured petals stand in excellent order and stiffness, making a grand rose of creamy white tinted with pale pink or pinkish white, depending on the weather, becoming white eventually and lasting in form a long time; blooming in large clusters on a very sturdy bush with deep green foliage, quite leathery and more deeply serrate than the pure tea foliage. Sombreuil with all this resistant toughness, should be the finest white tea rose of the garden, and is such in dry, clear sunny weather but a too moist spring causes the blooms to ball badly."

For real-world growing advice, Peter Schneider's "Right Rose, Right Place."

The Complete Book of Roses - Gerd Krussman

There are no shiny pictures in this rather old fashioned book.....but when the Beales (Peter and daughter, Amanda) claim this book as their most essential guide, it does suggest that it contains a wealth of information. As well as sections on the rose as a cultural artefact, it contains the most comprehensive description of species roses in any book or manual I have found. It is exacting, clear and highly practical, dealing with all aspects of rose culture, from lineage to rootstocks, genetics to social history. By far and away, the most useful book for serious gardeners. Last updated in the mid 80s, it obviously has no information on rose developments after that time....but is still a highly comprehensive book which has become an essential addition to my library.

The right rose books for you -- that depends on where you are.

I began with the great British books -- and that was a mistake. Their advice was all wrong for someone in my conditions. I couldn't have made worse choices.

Jeri