Tuesday, February 21, 2017

The English Roses ~ book review and give away

 

Hello Folks ~ We had Valentine’s day last week and spring will be here shortly.

With that in mind, I am going to review the wonderful and beautiful book by  ‘David Austin, The English Roses, Classic Favorites and New Additions, Third Addition.’ This was sent to me for reviewing by Firefly Books Ltd.

02-06-books4

This book is filled with page after page of David Austin’s beautiful roses.

Part One is ‘The Origins and Nature of the English Rose’. Very interesting information about these roses, history, breeding and growing. A fantastic reference book to go to over and over again for these roses. I could barely stop reading as it is very well written. You can tell the love of roses went into the breeding of all of these and into the writing for this book.

Part Two is ‘A Gallery of English Roses’.  Wonderful descriptions of each rose, including scents, how the name came to be, etc.

This is a book for any rose lover, or even if you are not one, it might make you want to at least pick out your favorite rose that will grow in your zone, order it, plant it whether in the ground or a pot, and enjoy!

Before receiving this book from Firefly Books Ltd. I had been doing some research on David Austin roses and found one that truly spoke to me. Then after receiving the book and reading it, viewing the photos and info on roses a second time, that one has stayed number one and then a few others have spoken to me as well. Winking smile

# 1 for me is Munstead Wood

All of these rose photos are courtesy of HelpMeFind. (The photos in the book are more beautiful that these.)

'Munstead Wood' rose photo

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Now for the others that caught my eye.

Fighting Temeraire

'Fighting Temeraire ®' rose photo

Desdemona

'Desdemona  (Shrub, Austin, 2015)' rose photo

Snow Goose

'Snow Goose' rose photo

Darcey Bussell

'Monferrato' rose photo

I love roses with wonderful scents.  I look for roses that are disease resistant, have wonderful scents and will grow in my tropical humid climate. Also ones that will do well in containers as FL has very sandy soil and where I am, we are only 3’ above sea level.

Here are a couple of paragraphs from this lovely book, not one for a shelf but for your coffee table, or somewhere where you’ll see the cover and be tempted to take a few minutes, or more, and view the wonderful eye-candy inside.

“True gardeners love growing things & living beauty, taking pleasure in the whole process of ever-changing life.  Plants have their own beauty – they are life. This is what gardening is about & also what growing roses is about.”

“There is a place for pot-grown roses in every garden, whatever the size. English roses are ideal for this purpose.”

***

So folks, if you want to learn more about these beautiful roses and view the wonderful photographs, you can order the book here.

Or,

you can enter the give away that Firefly Books Ltd. has generously graced this post with for this book.

1. You must be a follower of my blog.

2. Leave an email addy so that I can let you know if you are the winner and to get your snail mail addy.

3. One entry per person, and the end of this give away will be midnight, this Sunday, 26th of February 2017.  I will use Random.org for drawing the winning name.

Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post. You are so encouraging to me and I really appreciate your kindness and taking the time to write.

So, get your name entered and one of you will be the happy winner of this wonderful book.

Thank you Caroline from Firefly Books Ltd. for this opportunity. The book was a joy to review and makes a wonderful addition to my libary of books, not just for gardening, but books of all kinds.

I love roses!

Have a great week everyone ~ FlowerLady

17 comments:

Jane said...

I have that book, Rainey, and I agree that the David Austin roses are some of the prettiest ones. They have that old-fashioned Valentine card look to them.

HUgs
Jane

Rebecca said...

What a wonderful book for rose lovers!
I'm far from an expert, but sure enjoy seeing yours.
I have some hardy white ones and planted a small bush that was given to us at our mother's funeral last August. I sure hope it survives our northeast winter! I don't know the names of either variety I have :)

Nancy J said...

The last rose, Darcy Bussell is my pick, the colour that I am using in some of the blocks in an online group right now . A beautiful book, with a lot of thought and time in the words and those photos. What a wonderful give-away.

Mrs. White said...

It sounds like a wonderful book. I love roses. They are so pretty and elegant.

Blessings
Mrs. White

BeachGypsy said...

Oh i love the first one best!--love the color!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

I want to comment but don't enter my nae for the book. I like roses, but don't have them in my garden except for climbers on the fence. My love of day lily might be equal to your love of roses. I have a large variety of them and look for new ones every year. I appreciate you. I love that you share your thoughts and your wonderful garden and stitching with us all. Have a blessed day.
xx, Carol

Barbee' said...

I would love to have that book. If I win, I promise I will not drool on it.
bees.garden@yahoo.com

September Violets said...

You've written such a wonderful review of the book that I am going to enter my name for the draw as well. Roses is one flower I have very little experience with, but have always wanted some old fashioned roses in the garden. Thank you for sharing your views Lorraine. Have a great day!
Wendy

Kim said...

Wow, those pictures are stunning!! What a beautiful book. I am not a gardener, I would love to be, but I have been cursed with a black thumb. I do however, love to read about flowers, especially roses. We just added a rose border to the front of the house. I let others take care of them!! ;) kim@exquisitelyunremarkable.com

Sandra @ Thistle Cove Farm said...

Rainey, lovely giveaway and beautiful photos but please don't include me in the giveaway. Life is too uncertain right now. XOXO

KathyB. said...

I love roses. Our new place has very hardy roses planted all around the front flower beds and they do well in this very harsh weather, plus are very fragrant. I have no idea what varieties they are, but know we'll keep them here since they're already thriving. Very interesting post and I think I'll try to borrow that book from the library.

A Joyful Cottage said...

This looks like a beautiful book, but please don't enter me in the giveaway. I'm trying so hard to get rid of books right now, and I'd love for someone to receive it who really would love it. Your garden is so beautiful, your roses so stunning. Here it's very difficult to grow roses because of the climate and soil. Only a few do well. Have a great day, Rainey. xo

Celestina Marie said...

Hi Lorraine,
What a wonderful book and generous giveaway. I love roses and in Texas they can be a challenge. We have many of the knock out roses but the last couple years a disease has taken over many all over my town and infected these otherwise disease free roses. I have searched for answers but so far no cure is available. I lost my Mister Lincoln rose climber this year but there was a small piece left so I replanted it and I hope it will take and set some roots.
Thank you for this special post and giveaway. I am a follower and would love to enter.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead. Blessings, xoxo

ferne said...

I care for the roses we sell at the nursery where I work and we always carry some David Austin Roses. Every year I try to decide on just one to add to my collection and it is very difficult. I do have Munstead Wood and love it, it grows practically disease free here in N. California and the fragrance is wonderful! So glad I caught this post I would love to be entered in the drawing!

Melanie said...

I would love to be counted in your giveaway! I only have one rosebush but I have no idea how to properly take care of it. It needs pruning and I'm not sure how to go about it. I know there's other care I need to be doing, too. Thank you!

Pani Wiosna said...

I love DA Roses, hope to plant lots of them in my garden. Wish to have this book.

Pam's English Garden said...

I visited one of the David Austin gardens in England, Lorraine. It was a joy. I have his 'Litchfield Angel' which I purchased because it was named for a plaque in the cathedral at Litchfield, England, where I went to school. I don't have much luck with roses though because of the dreaded Japanese beetles that devour them. Wonderful review. P. x