[.uk] Roses in the Southern Garden (ISBN 0967821304)

Book Description:
Mike Shoup has put together hundreds of evocative photographs illustrating creative and imaginative gardens blended with Old Garden Roses. As owner of the Antique Rose Emporium Inc., Mike has created a business that has made these roses available to gardeners through mail order and through three display garden centers. Each center is in itself unique, and distinct from each other, due to their location in three different environments. He uses this experience to profile the best roses for their proven and most excellent garden use. Among each rose profile, not only are there numerous sumptuous photographs, but also descriptive captions and side-bars that instruct the reader on how to best achieve the results seen. The experienced and novice gardener alike, from the forested East coast to the arid Texas plains, will find this book to be, not only beautiful to look at, but also a delight to read with its straightforward discussion. The book not only expresses the culture and placement of the rose in creative and sometimes whimsical gardens, but also the author's love of gardening in a personal, and at times, humorous way.

Beautiful book for rose lovers in the south:
This is a valuable book for selecting antique roses that perform well in the southeast and southwestern areas of the U.S. After a brief introduction, chapters are arranged as follows: 1) Vigorous climbers 2) Mannerly climbers 3) Large shrubs 4) Small Shrubs 5) Specialty roses. Each variety is given a two page spread which contains a few paragraphs describing the rose and its habits and numerous photographs. The most valuable aspect are the photographs because they show how the rose grows in different situations, such as on a fence, an arbor, etc. There are close-ups of the rose and views of the entire plant. There is no horticultural advice, so this book can really only be used as a selection device. The photos alone, however, make this a worthy purchase.