A Year of Roses

Stephen Scanniello, rosarian of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's celebrated Cranford Rose Garden, distills his formidable practical knowledge into A Year of Roses, charting month to month the tasks necessary for keeping roses healthy and enhancing their beauty.
Scanniello stresses the need for a more hands-on approach to the art of growing beautiful roses. With intelligent simplicity and inspiriting charm, A Year of Roses teaches everything: how to choose, order, store, plant, protect, and maintain your roses. Also included here are practical rose culture information for all horticultural zones, significant historical facts, personal anecdotes, detailed black-and-white line drawings - and, throughout, Scanniello's unique expertise.

One of the country's foremost authorities on roses, Scanniello is the often-quoted rosarian responsible for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's lovely Cranford rose garden. Imbued with a delightfully intimate tone, Scanniello's practical new guide seems the next best thing to sitting down with him for a cup of tea and chatting about the very best ways to deal with roses of all types--modern or antique. Addressing different methods for various areas of the country, Scanniello touches on topics ranging from ordering roses by mail order to pruning, planting, fertilizing, and nonchemical ways to keep rosebushes healthy. Always an enthusiastic instructor, Scanniello offers accessible counsel for beginning gardeners and fascinating tips for gardeners who might already possess expertise but could readily use advice from an expert. Alice Joyce