Climbing Roses: A Horticulture Book

Scaniello organizes climbing roses in roughly chronological order and writes two pages of text for each entry. This kind of treatment gives one an excellent understanding of the way climbing roses developed through the ages. The photos are full-page which is necessary for representing the scale and garden effect of climbing roses effectively. It is an approach we hope to see used more in books about roses. The text is informative, giving historical links between roses and for each rose, suggesting a group of roses that are similar. The book is a strong entry, but it has a significant number of flaws. The focus seems to be too much on roses bred in America. There's a huge number of climbers in David Austin's Shrub Roses and Climbing Roses that deserve mention here. It was almost as if the authors had made a conscious decision to avoid the roses chosen by Austin. If so, that was a big mistake because their treatment was more thorough, usually, than Austin's. My suspicion is that the book is about Climbing Roses of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, since that is where Scaniello practices his art. And it would have been more honest to subtitle it that way. It is true that roses do pink, white and red best. And it is true that one must be judicious in using yellow in a garden: place them badly and you get a color trainwreck. But yellows - whether they are apricot, primrose, gold, or just plain yellow - really draw the eye in a garden. Yellow roses can be the glory of the garden. And my impression is that yellow roses are not well represented here. I also get the impression that ramblers are not well represented here. A remarkably tiny portion of the roses in this volume manage to scramble up tall structures. Conversely, there are a lot of leggy large-flowered roses. Most of the photographs are stunning. But a significant portion show flaws. In some cases it appears to be color balance - it is frequently too cool. Some whites show the (almost unavoidable) blown highlights and flares. In a book with thousands of photos these would be quibbles. But there are not even hundreds of roses in this book, so each flaw becomes a noticable problem. Finally, there is the writing. One gets the impression that the writer is skilled at the craft, but generally uninformed about roses. The language is clear, but the meanings are frequently muddy. If I had to choose between a person with a deep knowledge of roses but quirky writing skills and a person with no knowledge and great writing skills, I'd choose the former every time. Voice matters. For Americans living in zones 5, 6, and 7 who wish to learn a little more about climbing roses of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, this is an indispensible volume. It is difficult, however, to recommend this as a first or only book on the subject of climbing roses. And if one wants to learn about ramblers, one should look elsewhere.

--bar none! The author gives detailed descriptions of a select variety of climbers, along with information on the history, care and pruning of each one. Photographs of each are included, but this is an informational book, not mere eye candy. If I could only have one source on climbing roses, this would be it. My hope is that it will come back into print.

This book goes beyond the standard fare of horticulture writing. Its very informative but at the same time it had very readable prose and some refreshing ideas, especially on zones, blooming characters, etc, for the east coast of the US, which doesn't seem to be very habitable for roses in general.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who enjoys climbing roses. It is beautiful and interesting, offering the origin of various roses, detailed descriptions, growing tips, and pruning instructions. I have found it to be a very helpful reference tool for my growing rose garden. In the winter, it is a pleasure place on a coffee table and browse the gorgeous pictures.