Growing roses for small gardens - Michael Gibson

Many gardeners have only a modest plot of land to work on, and find that it can often be difficult to make standard plants and flowers work in a confined space. Although it may the thought that the average rose - the Hybrid Tea of Floribunda - is not really all that big, a number of gardens lend themselves much better to the marvellous and constantly expanidng range of new smaller roses which have come into existence in the last few years, many specificaly intended for small-scale plantings. These smaller roses are the subject of this new book in the Christopher Helm "Growing" series.;Firstly, there are the dwarf cluster-flowered or patio roses, which are mostly very low-growing versions of the Floribundas; secondly, there are the miniatures, and thirdly the shrub roses. Having anticipated the trend for ground-cover plants, rose breeders have recently produced a wonderful range of shrub roses which are low growing and tend to stay reasonably compact.;The author considers the selection and cultivation of all these types of rose as well as the many varieties of climbers that require a minimum of space. Departing from the traditional way of growing the larger roses as bedding plants, this book offers a wealth of ideas for informal planting schemes and explains the many ways in which the delightful smaller varieties can blend in with other garden plants.