This is an illustrated guide to varieties, cultivation and care, with step-by-step instructions and over 120 beautiful photographs. It offers everything you need to know at a glance in one handy and sumptuously illustrated practical guide. It features a full photographic directory of more than 40 old roses, including wild roses, albas, Bourbons, centifolias, mosses, Chinas, teas, damasks and gallicas. For each variety, full botanical information is provided on history, growth, hue, height, spread and suitability. It offers step-by-step photographic guidance on planting, propagation, pruning, and pests and diseases. It includes instructions on planting old roses in borders, containers, as pyramids, or trained against a wall. It is a highly accessible guide to some of the most popular and best-loved plants, celebrating their scent and beauty. For as long as people have made gardens they have grown roses in them, and it would be impossible to exaggerate the rose’s importance among garden plants. Roses developed and grown before World War I are known as ‘old roses’, and with their full rosette blooms or beautifully shaped flat petals, they deserve special attention. This book explains how to recognize different types of old rose and grow them to their best advantage. A fully illustrated directory of 40 recommended varieties, together with expert advice on how and where to plant them and their flowering times, will help you to create a spectacular display of these magnificent, historical plants.