The Rose Book

This elegantly illustrated book has eight direct color photographs and 64 half tone plates depicting roses and rose gardens. The author, Harry Higgott Thomas (1876-1956), started out with a career in banking but switched his focus and went to study at Kew Gardens and became one of the best known names in garden writing. The< color photographs are by Henry Essenhigh Corke who combined his botany knowledge with the family photography business to become a pioneering photographer of plants. While beautifully illustrated, this book is full of practical advice from suggesting which are good roses for beginners to grow to providing rose garden design ideas. Thomas acknowledges help from Walter Easlea, a rose breeder whose name sake Easlea’s Golden Rambler is still popular with rosarians. H.H. Aitken also wrote the chapter on Rose Diseases and Pests. Mystery readers may recognize his use of arsenic as an insect control, which was not officially banned in the U.S. until August 1988.