The first book, In Search of Lost Roses by Thomas Christopher is a small book that is full of many tales, all of them about roses. The large Lady Banks rose in Arizona, rose rustling in Texas, Josephine's planting style at Malmaison, identification of Chinese roses, the wanderings of Robert Fortune, the "Mother Lode" of roses in California, and a private garden of 8,500 rose bushes sold because of a tax increase, are just a few of the tales told.
Even with so many tales in one book, the writing flows easily. Dick Streeper states that it is "masterful storytelling", and that describes it perfectly. If you love roses, you will find yourself unable to put this book down.
It is a classic.
Another classic book for rose lovers is How to Pronounce French Rose Names by Diana Bellucci. The title states it all. If you want to ask for a rose without stating "I'm not sure how to pronounce it, but it might be Du-sure or Dew-shay", then you can look it up and know that it's the latter.
Want to pronounce the rose Souvenir de Gilbert Nabonnand correctly? Just look it up, and you will find that it is pronounced as soo-vneer duh zheel-behr nah-bo-na(n). German roses are also listed, so you can pronounce Pink Frau Karl Druschki as fraow kahrl DROOSH-kee. Even those of us with a southern drawl can feel confident knowing that we are pronouncing our rose names correctly!
(The rose photos are from last November.)
Now it's your turn! Please join us every 20th of the month with your own garden book review. Any book with a gardening influence qualifies.
Beautiful roses and what a surprise that you enjoy books about roses. The stories of finding old roses do sound fun.
ReplyDeleteI'm joining in for the first time with a review of Pam Penick's new book Lawn Gone!
http://rockoakdeer.blogspot.com/2013/03/lawn-gone-review.html
Thanks for joining in! I added your post to the linky tool above. :) I look forward to reading about Lawn Gone! I've been thinking about getting rid of my lawn quite a bit lately!
DeleteThank you! I totally missed the linky since this is my first book review.
DeleteLooks like an interesting book, Holley ---and one which we all should get and KEEP.
ReplyDeleteHappy Spring.
Hugs,
Betsy
The first one was quite an interesting read, and one I could read over and over. The second I refer to often. I would hate to pronounce my roses' names incorrectly!
DeleteI love flower tales so I will have to check out that first book...both sound wonderful
ReplyDeleteI think you would really enjoy it, Donna. So much packed into that little book - and he presents it in such an interesting way!
DeleteI have to remember to enter this meme as I am reading quite a few book related to gardening. Why do the French have to include those alphabets if they don't want to pronounce them? I think the first book will be really interesting to read.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will join in! I took some French for a while - it was a difficult language precisely because I wanted to pronounce all the letters - and it seemed like several of them were just overlooked! Anyway, the first book is very interesting. I devoured it!
DeleteI like books that include tales as in In Search of Lost Roses. That sounds so interesting. And it is always helpful to have a pronunciation guide. There are so many roses and so many names...seems very helpful. Thank you for hosting, Holley.
ReplyDeleteThe first book is extremely interesting. Rose lovers can learn a lot from all the information weaved into the stories, although they would be fun to read even if one doesn't have a lot of roses in their garden. As for the second book, I hated asking for a rose without knowing how it was properly pronounced. I was so glad when I found this guide!
DeleteBoth sound divine
ReplyDeleteThey are - in their own way. I suppose, if one knew French, they might not need the guide book, though! :)
DeleteYou need to subscribe to Green Prints - The Weeders Digest. Here's a link to their site https://www.greenprints.com
ReplyDeleteBut order the magazine. It's a quarterly and a gem. I've often thought with your writing talents you could have something published in it. have you heard of it before?
Marcia - I have heard of it before, and considered subscribing. But when we tighten out belts, magazine subscriptions are the first to get the axe. But when I start subscribing to magazines again, I'll put this one at the top of the list. Good to get a recommendation from you! :)
DeleteWhat a great idea to have a reference on how to pronounce plant names. I'm not a rose person but I do find regular botanical names can be very tricky and I'm never sure if I'm getting it quite right.
ReplyDeleteMost roses have French names, so unless one speaks French, the pronunciation is not familiar. I was tired of butchering their beautiful names, so I was happy to find this little book! I agree, too, about botanical names. I've even considered taking Latin so I could learn plant names easier!
DeleteThe pronunciation of rose names perplexes me, too. I even took French and German in college. There are a couple of Latin books for gardeners.
DeleteI think I'm going to get one of those Latin books for gardeners. I think I would really enjoy learning a bit more about their botanical names.
DeleteOoo, that first book sounds like so much fun! I don't really know a lot about roses, but I love a good plant story!
ReplyDeleteIt has some great plant stories in it - I think you'll love it!
DeleteI really like a book that gives pronunciation. It is so difficult sometimes due to different languages. Scientific names stump me all the time too. Roses are so beautiful and I am sure the photos in the two books are stunning.
ReplyDeleteActually, there are no photos in either one. The first doesn't need it - it's entertaining enough without them, and the second one is more of a quick reference book. I hadn't thought much about the lack of photos in both of them, but they really are great books without them!
DeletePlease tell me all was not lost in the garden sold for taxes. I am in the happy position of drawing up a list of roses for my new garden. I had no idea there were evergreen roses such as Lady Banks. My small grandson is intrigued by the French accent of our French Canadian neighbours. I think we could both have fun learning and saying the French rose names.
ReplyDeleteYou'll just have to read the book! ;) No, I won't do that to you. Yes, the garden with all those roses was sold - I think to a developer (can't say that for sure, as I don't have the book in front of me). Very sad. And yes, I love evergreen roses! I have several of them in my garden. Have fun speaking French! :)
DeleteIn Search of Lost Roses sounds particularly intriguing...I think I will definitely have to track down a copy! And knowing how to pronounce all of these difficult foreign names is always a good thing! Wonderful picks! :)
ReplyDeleteI hope you can find a copy of In Search of Lost Roses. It really is an intriguing little book!
DeleteI am loving "In Search of Lost Roses". What a fun and interesting book! I would not have known about if not for your blog. Thank you for the great recommendations!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you're enjoying it! :) It's a great little book, with so many interesting facts about roses woven into different tales.
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