I have three rose books that I don't need anymore. David Austin's English Roses by David Austin, 100 English Roses for the American Garden by Clair Martin, and The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book. The weather sucks and I thought there are people who do NOT have a spray free garden and would like some books on English roses. The books are wonderful with great pics. If someone wants them just email me and you can pick them up. I thought about shipping but thought I would start of local to save myself the trouble of packing and the post office. Amy PS These are free to any rose addict like me. Smiles

I can think of several to recommend. If you lived in the northeast my first choice to recommend would be Stephen Scanniello's excellent A Year of Roses because I really love the way it follows the calendar. However the information does not line up to a warm climate calendar very well. I quite like Field Roebuck's book published as part of the Creative Homeowner series. It is called Foolproof Guide to Growing Roses. His approach is not dogmatic, but makes only minimal use of sprays, and organic ones when called for at all. I very much like his emphasis on healthy soil. For strict organic approaches there are the cold climate book Growing Roses Organically by Barbara Wilde and the warm climate book The Organic Rose Garden by Liz Druitt. So you have some choices. Given that you are in USDA zone 10, you would probably want to skip the two cold climate-oriented books. Rosefolly

Rose viewing is right here in the gallery forum there much better truer pics than a glossy expensive book can offer and alot of people have great skills in getting real nice picks I tend to think some of em are pros but I know it is a passion of sharing they posses Zone rose growing is a very good idea but you can read up Chances are there posting there zone like you did Types of roses Well there are many from climbers HTS to ground covers oldfasions ect ect ect sometimes you can read a lil bit on the general rose forum for a better discription but youll catch on from a HT to a climber in no time I found organic rose growing to be a very good place to post about pest and problems a webb site from a rather humorus guy named Bob he,ll tell you lots too he has 1000's of em too including pics it is very informative from whos who to where to pest site prep how to buy ect ect ect it's not a nice glossy book but for a beginner I reccomend it highly after a while you can buy the book if you want but by far the pics here show a rose as it realy is... if you find a rose you want but still want to see it dont hessitate to ask for a pic or two of it someone proberly has it Roses and everything about em copy save and read away he has 1000's of good pics too Bobs humor and visit us often http://www.rose-roses.com/index.html

There are more than a handful of old books that are available free online via Google Books and other such sources. I think someone posted a link in an earlier thread that directed online users to quite a few old rose e-books... I'll try to relocate it. For my birthday, my husband is giving me used copies of 'In Search of Old Roses' (I know- how can I not have read this already?), and Ethelyn Keays' 'Old Roses', a book that Jeri has recommended, and that- from bits I've read online- I know is well-written and engaging. A book I already have- really, the only rose-related book I have- is the previously mentioned 'Noisette Roses: 19th Century Charleston's Gift to the World', and if you have any interest in Noisettes, it is a worthwhile read. Two other books I hope to obtain are 'Wild and Old Garden Roses' by Gordon Edwards and 'Tea Roses: Old Roses for Warm Gardens' by the Australian 'Tea Bag Ladies'. Much of its text is available online, but I want the physical book with pictures... Here is a link to a bookstore that sells old books about roses, and there may be something listed here that 'calls to you': http://www.oldroses.com A good source for used books in general is http://www.abebooks.com Let us know what you find to read! Virginia