Growing Roses Organically: Your Guide to Creating an Easy-Care Garden Full of Fragrance and Beauty (Rodale Organic Gardening Book) - Hardcover

Growing Roses Organically

"Finally, a comprehensive rose book that takes the intimidation out of growing roses naturally. This book is a must-- not only for rosarians, but for gardeners everywhere."--G. Michael Shoup, president and owner, The Antique Rose Emporium

"Barbara Wilde has compiled a complete approach for growing roses the way we need to, in the real world. This is information that all of us have been wanting-- not just the best organic methods, but also the most worthwhile and productive varieties. She tells us the species that can take care of themselves, the best ancient cultivars, and the very latest in breeding trends."--Rev. Douglas T. Seidel, consultant for the rose collection at the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants

"I hope gardeners will take advantage of Barbara Wilde's thorough knowledge and experience in growing roses by using this book. Her sensible advice made me realize organic growing practices are at the heart of all the best gardens, not just those meant for food crops. I was particularly intrigued by her emphasis on the importance of the proper selection of roses and her knowledge of many European hybrids. And with all the work that modern hybridizers have done to increase hardiness and disease resistance in roses, it's well worth the effort to get these roses into our gardens. Wilde doesn't try to tell us there is no work involved with growing good roses but does tell us where to put our energies for a sustainable payback for our efforts."--Saxon Holt, photo director, PhotoBotanic.com, and an award-winning photographer with six books on roses currently in print

Growing Roses Organically

Not many gardeners can resist the beauty of a rose-- a flower so divine and graceful in appearance and, in many cases, so wonderfully fragrant that it evokes thoughts of love and romance at first encounter. Many gardeners, however, also see a fussy plant that's hard to grow and needs special attention, as well as a host of chemicals to keep diseases and pests at bay.

In Growing Roses Organically, Barbara Wilde challenges the myth that growing roses has to be a time-consuming task that you can't do effectively without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In fact, she takes the intimidation out of growing roses by sharing her well-rounded, holistic approach for success. Wilde starts with tips for choosing healthy varieties, including hints for buying the best bareroot and container plants. She guides you through careful soil preparation and proper planting techniques and offers advice on how to gently intervene when it comes to pest and disease problems. Wilde also demystifies pruning-- a task that perplexes many gardeners. Her step-by-step explanation of various techniques makes this task doable for every gardener, including beginners.

You'll also find invaluable information in A Gallery of Roses, an eye-catching identification guide that boasts more than 100 roses best suited for organic gardening techniques. Each entry in the gallery includes a detailed description of the rose and its best uses, as well as ratings for fragrance, disease susceptibility, and shade tolerance.

To round out Growing Roses Organically, you'll discover how to incorporate roses into your garden. Wilde dismisses the notion that you need to grow roses in a formal setting and instead presents four garden designs that incorporate roses with everything from perennials and wildflowers to trees and shrubs. Her design do's and don'ts along with winning plant combinations demonstrate how naturally roses fit into the landscape.

In sharing her wisdom and experience, Barbara Wilde shows that growing roses doesn't have to be labor-intensive or frustrating. By choosing the right varieties and providing proper care, roses really can be a welcome part of every garden-- including yours.

About the Author

Barbara Wilde has been gardening organically since the age of 17, when her Swiss grandmother first introduced her to gardening. As owner of a midwestern specialty plant nursery, Barbara spent 10 years exploring garden design and ornamental horticulture and growing heirloom and European fruits, vegetables, and cut flowers organically. As a garden designer and education specialist for a premier midwestern landscape firm, she developed staff training curriculum and pioneered organic landscaping techniques still in use by the firm today.

Barbara has written for Horticulture magazine and Rodale publications and is the regular garden columnist for Indianapolis Woman magazine. A frequent public speaker on horticulture, she is known for her ecologically sensitive designs that use a wide variety of unusual plants.

Barbara currently lives in Paris, where she maintains her own Web site, www.frenchgardening.com. At the site, you can find articles on French gardens, practical gardening advice, favorite plants, kitchen gardening, her life in Paris, and even cooking-- her (barely) subordinate passion. When not writing content for the site, Barbara spends her time traveling throughout France searching for traditional French garden seeds and artisanal products, including tools, books, and decorating items, which she sells on her Web site. She also gardens with her companion, Denis, on their Parisian terrace and on weekends at an old Normandy farmhouse.