Jackson and Perkins'
Rose Companions:
Growing Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs,
Shrubs, and Vines with Roses
by Stephen Scanniello
was an especially delightful book to receive.
I do, however, wonder about the previous owners. What makes them decide to sell their gardening books? Do they know all the information in it? Have they had to quit gardening for some reason? Do they just have too many gardening books?
Really, can one ever have too many gardening books?
I especially wonder when there is an inscription inside the book. The hand-written inscription inside my copy of this book reads:
Merry Christmas Merle
Happy gardening days ahead!
Love, Dad & Mom "C"
2009
Did Merle have happy gardening days? I can only hope.
 |
| Artemisia with Crepuscule rose |
Do you like to grow roses with companion plantings? I do. I can not imagine having roses without having other gardening joys growing alongside them.
 |
| Stokesia with Lion's Fairy Tale |
Just by the title of this book, I was expecting a listing of rose companion plants. And there is a directory - in the back of the book - with not only a listing of suggested companion plants but also plant size, bloom color and time, hardiness zones, and suggested uses.
 |
| Liatris with Antoine Rivoire |
But this book has more than just listings of plants. It also has information about location, design, and all the different types of roses. This would be quite a helpful book if you are new to gardening and want to have a rose garden with mixed plantings, or have a mixed bed and want to include some roses.
 |
| Scabiosa with Charles Darwin |
To borrow from the inscription at the front of my book, I hope you, too, have happy gardening days ahead!
______________________________________________
u r really making ur blog lovable........i love the butterfly on the flower pic...
ReplyDeleteThank you, Meghana. I love taking photos of butterflies, and just seeing them in my garden in general!
DeleteI love the Artemesia with the roses!!
ReplyDeleteI've been shocked to see how large this artemisia has gotten! I've cut it back several times, but I do love how it fills in around the roses.
DeleteNow you have me wondering who Merle was and what Merle's garden looked like, and whether Merle figured out how to grow roses. My challenge today is a redleaf rose that needs companions or structure around it and I can't figure out what to do -- this book could help me! Or Merle could help me.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Merle put in her rose garden, and is happy with the companions growing with them. Good luck with your dilemma. I bet you'll find just the right thing to go with your rose.
DeleteSuch fun, looking for second hand gardening books. I should like to give book reviews, for I have soooo maaannnnyyy, but I just have not enough time, I almost cannot manage to make one or two times a week a blogpost. It is important that roses have their companions and there are many beautiful combinations of which Artemisia is a wonderful one.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand about the time issue. And I do love to see roses growing with companions, too. I had no idea when I put in the artemisia how large it was going to grow - but I love its contrasting color and foliage.
DeleteLove surprise books and I too love to have some roses around the garden. Some years they do better than others here but their blooms are a welcome sight.
ReplyDeleteI think your statement "some years they do better than others here" could be said by any gardener anywhere! :)
DeleteSounds as if Merle is a "re-gifter." I, too, have given away garden books, mainly because I run out of room in the bookshelves. Although generally not the inscribed ones!
ReplyDeleteI have loads of gardening books, filling up bookshelves. Perhaps I should consider giving some away. But I like going back and re-reading them. It seems I find something new every time I do.
DeleteI'm a sucker for garden books--especially at garage sale prices! I like to plant other plants with my roses, too and your combos look great together.
ReplyDeleteI don't usually buy garden books unless they are on sale, or used. Unfortunately, some of the books I want are no available any longer - or have a very large price tag!
DeleteI pick up birding books, cookbooks along with gardening books. So fun to see the inscriptions and sometimes newspaper articles stuck between the pages. I know to some bibliophiles it is a no no to write in books but I am following in the footsteps of my mother and grandmother in making notes in my cookbooks. Maybe some day a young woman will open one of my cookbooks, see what I have written and wonder about me. Wait. . . no one cooks anymore (said with cynicism).
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy blue with white in the garden. Love your pictures.
haha - I thought that cooking was making a resurgence! Although I doubt many will ever cook every day like our mothers and grandmothers did. It's just too easy to go out now!
DeleteMe thinks Merle is now divorced from M & D C's son and did not get the garden. Or she might have any of the other books Stephen Scanniello has written about roses.
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed Salvias by John Sutton. A tomb of many plants that is great fun to read while thinking about "filling in" the spaces. Then to pursue the web to FIND these plants. Modern gardening at it's best.
I hadn't thought about that scenario with Merle! You could be right. I, too, pursue the web to find out more about plants I read about, and where to purchase them. It's so nice to be able to get almost anything these days, and to find a bargain occasionally!
DeleteAs a gardening book junkie, I think sometimes you can outgrow a book. I purged mine this spring and donated the ones I don't use anymore to our garden club to use as door prizes. New gardeners are always happy to get a quality book as a prize, or cheap at a garage sale. Sometimes I find one I've wanted in the least expected places.
ReplyDeleteI don't grow many roses but enjoy looking at all the beautiful ones garden bloggers share - it's the best of both world's for me.
Thank you for hosting Holley.
Judith
I purged my gardening books of out of date books and gave them all to two arboretums. It was very satisfying.
ReplyDeleteI too have a garden book that was someone's Christmas gift. I love used books with inscriptions and pieces of paper with scribbled notes used as bookmarks. I would not like to think that Merle's book was part of an estate sale.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when I bought any and every gardening book. Now I mostly keep to books about gardening in the hot and humid Sunny South. I gave away many books.
What if this Merle didn't like gardening at all? Often parents buy stuff for their children and they totally miss the thing. This just to give you a non macabre explanation about why the book could have be put on sale. But your mum got it right, indeed, the book shall be very interesting. I'm trying to interplant bulbs and perennials to my roses in the rose garden and often the addition (whatever it is) more than double the value of the rose garden: it helps keeping weeds under control and extend the interest or blooming period.
ReplyDeleteHi Holley, Sorry I did not get my act together in time for a review. Next month for sure! I always wonder about books with personal inscriptions too. I have a book of poems with a note from a father to his daughter at Christmas. Did she not like Dad's choice of poems?
ReplyDeleteRoses look best in the company of other garden friends in my opinion. I think it helps especially between periods of bloom. This sounds like a handy reference.
I can see getting to a point in my life when the old books have to go, but I'm not there yet. I even learn new things and remember garden tips when I re-read old gardening books. This looks like a great book--especially for a Rosarian like you!
ReplyDeleteHey, Holly: Thanks so much for participating in the "Lessons Learned" meme! I posted the wrap-up this morning. Cheers!
DeleteI stopped buying garden books! Okay well I bought one recently and wished I hadn't!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers and I love all the beautiful companions to the roses, liatris is a favorite!
It's a great match for you and your garden Holley. Those are pretty companion ideas for roses. I have added a few roses and will plant some companions for them this fall. My favorite is cactus and roses which I saw at The Antique Rose Emporium. Can't wait to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI don't buy many garden books since there are so few which relate to my climate. I did purchase Plant Driven Design this week which I will review next month. It has been reviewed here before which is how I learned of it.
What a great book for a rose-lover! There could be a whole series of books like this - say, for Hydrangeas, Clematis, Peonies ...
ReplyDeleteA few years back, I was given that book for my birthday. Love it and I usually pull it off the shelf in early January - when I'm wishing and hoping to garden but it's usually too cold for that.
ReplyDeleteI also do the same things with such books - look inside and outside to find more information about the previous owner and then imagine about them :-). I don't know if they are companion plants or not but my roses have all sorts of plants around them. I just put in plants where I find place :-)
ReplyDeleteYour 'Crepuscule' rose looks so pretty with the artemesia. I also have artemesia by one of my roses. I don't know its name. And I also like lavender with roses and irises, too. I guess roses make good bed fellows! You know, I heard that Jackson and Perkins went out of business. But that certainly wouldn't be a reason to give a book away...it might even make it more valuable!
ReplyDeleteNo, Mimi - M&D are both slightly deaf. When Merle said, "I really loathe roses," they thought she'd said she loved them! The vast majority of my books are second-hand, so I get to read lots of inscriptions. It definitely gives them character. Thanks for another lovely post, Holley.
ReplyDeleteI liked your reflective write up... in my opinion we can't have too many gardening books, or cook books! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book! I also love to plant companions to roses. Thyme and princess lilly are my favorites!
ReplyDeleteHi Holley, thanks for the book review! I love books about the topic of roses and companion plants. Having been in England recently and having seen great examples of these combinations in reality I feel very inspired to work more on that in own garden. So maybe Stephen Scanniello's book would be a perfect one for me! By the way, very nice photos of plant combinations from your garden!
ReplyDeleteChristina
It would be funny if Merle rediscovered gardening, googled the name of the book and found your post.
ReplyDeleteI too like roses companion planted. Much more than in rose beds. It has a more romantic feel and that is what roses say to me.
ReplyDeleteI would never do my gardenbooks away. The combination of the roses with other plants are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day.
I agree you can't have too many gardening books, Holley. Could never part with one in my large collection. Love this meme and will join in again soon. P. x
ReplyDeleteYour book holds many stories. The story of the roses, and the story of Merle, the owner of the book who, for some reason, no longer needed the book. Does Merle regret the decision to let go of this book? Will Merle wonder where it ended up? In good hands, I'd say. I have a hard time giving up my books. They are so treasured, but we may never know why Merle let go of this one. For all we know, Merle may be gardening in a rose garden in that paradise far away.
ReplyDeleteThat is a nice thing for your mum to do. Looks like an interesting book too, alas you will probably never know what became of the previous owner and why the book ended up where it did.
ReplyDeleteVery sweet of your mom. Not often, but occasionally I get rid of garden books. They are always such good reference but there's the odd dud. Maybe Merle ran out of shelf space?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Merle got the same book as a present from her Dad and Mom "A" or "B"?
ReplyDeleteJust stopping in to see if you are going to post for bloom day
ReplyDeleteAs one who has picked up many books at garage sales or should I say car boot sales I am fairly certain that most were once gifts that are no longer wanted. The owner may have died or given up gardening because of ill health or moved into a home. The former most of the time because the same books also show up in charity shops. I can't say I have found as many good ones over here but the odd one has made it onto my shelves; a book on mushrooms which I find too hard to identify even with that book in front of me.
ReplyDelete