Jane Lumley wrote:

... What is your favourite book - for any reason - pictures,
practicalities, dreaming? I would cite the following:

Graham Stuart Thomas, the triple-decker classic Peter Beales, Classic
Roses (though actually it's mostly in this excellent catalogue, and
the same goes for David Austin's stuff) Vita Sackville-west, In Your
Garden and a marvellous Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall book which is a
history of the rose garden.

I also like Yates's Roses (about growing in Oz, so not relevant, but
fun) and The Search For Lost Roses.

All are very good choices, and congratulations for having enjoyed such
excellent volumes.

Let me add a few from my own list of rose books that I have liked for
companions over the years:

Brent C. Dickerson's (and he does write on this forum every now and
then; Brent, where are you?) 'The Old Rose Adventurer' and 'The Old
Rose Advisor.' Comprehensive, erudite and a lot of fun to read, truly an
unimaginable combination.

Ralph Moore's 'All About Miniature Roses.' This book offers great
insight into the amazing career of a modern-day rose legend.

Ellen Willmott's 'Genus Rosa,' for anyone interested in species roses.

Suzanne Verrier's 'Rose Gallica,' probably the best book about a class
of roses that I care about a great deal.

Roger Phillips & Martyn Rix's 'Old Roses' (not a very long book, but
packed with goodies including stunning photographs, and part of a series
that also contains 'Herbs for Cooking,' 'Salad Plants' and 'Scented
Plants.' Their earlier book, the companion to their BBC series of the
same name 'The Quest for the Rose', is a lot of fun too.

Allen Lacy's 'The Glory of Roses' is one "Cofee Table" book on roses
that I would strongly recommend for it does not stop with being merely
decorative. Anyone who has known and enjoyed Lacy's inimitable prose
will be hooked on anything he has written about gardening anyway, and
the photographs by Christopher Baker accompanied by Lacy's prose are the
best cure when pursued by the Blue Devils.

Peter Bernhardt's 'The Rose's Kiss.' This one is not just a Rose book
despite the title; Prof. Bernhardt teaches Biology at St. Louis
University and this book's second title is 'A Natural History of
Flowers.' Easily readable and full of fun stuff, such as this rose
riddle, written by Albertus Magnus in ca. 1200s, and translated by
Edward A. Bowles:

"On a summer's day, in sultry weather,
Five brethren were born together,
Two had beards and two had none,
And the other had half but a one."

And so on ....

--
Radika
California
USDA 9 / Sunset 15