Booklist
Eighty-nine roses are highlighted in special entry boxes where the parent plant and its sports (mutations) are shown together. More than 40 feature panels profile nurseries, rose growers, and famous rose gardens from around the world. There are sections on cultivating roses, a glossary, a species index, a directory of rose societies throughout the world, a list of Web sites, and a very short general index.
The book is lacking in only a few types of information that would have assisted users. Since most gardeners choose roses by color, a color index would be helpful. Similarly, multiple indexes would aid patrons looking for a particular type of rose, such as a climbing rose or a rose with certain properties, such as fragrance or resistance to disease. Some additional cross-references would help with American names of foreign roses such as New Zealand's Land of the Long White Cloud (known as Full Sail in the U.S.).
These lapses aside, this is an excellent resource about roses. It will delight gardeners whether they wish to find information or merely browse and is highly recommended for both public and academic libraries. RBB
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