The classic guide fully updated and expanded with the addition of over 25 hardy rose cultivars.

In Hardy Roses, author Bob Osborne shares his decades of experience raising roses without any chemicals in some of the coldest winters. Roses need not be intimidating and doomed to inevitable failure, regardless of the climate. With this indispensable guide, northern gardeners can enjoy that early snowstorm confident that their carefully tended roses will survive.

For this new edition of his classic guide, Osborne has fully revised and updated his text. In the first part of the book, he carefully guides readers through the process of selecting, planting and caring for roses, touching on topics such as overwintering, pests and diseases, and propagation as he goes along. The second section profiles over 100 hardy rose cultivars divided into four main categories: climbers, tall shrubs, semi-vigorous shrubs and low shrubs. The guide also features a North American zone map and a detailed chart of hardy cultivars -- ideal to use while shopping -- describing color, form, hardiness, zone, vigor, fragrance, season, disease susceptibility and much more.

More than 125 exquisite photographs convey the roses' subtle coloration and beauty, and detailed line drawings illustrate the best planting, maintaining and propagating techniques for hardy roses. As the only authoritative book on growing roses in colder climates, Hardy Roses is essential reading for gardeners who want to experience the joy of cultivating these beautiful plants.

Bob Osborne's profile page

Beth Powning grew up in a small New England town, where her family has lived since the 1790s. In 1972, she and her husband Peter Powning moved to Canada and bought an 1870s farm in New Brunswick, where they established a pottery business.

In 1995, Beth Powning published a book of photography, Roses For Canadian Gardens (written by childhood friend Bob Osborne). She later found her voice in Home: Chronicle of a North Country Life. Over the next fifteen yaers, five books followed: another book of photographs, Northern Trees and Shrubs; two works of non-fiction, Shadow Child and Edge Seasons; and two bestselling novels, The Hatbox Letters and The Sea Captain's Wife.

Beth Powning's profile page

In Canada, we're lucky to have Hardy Roses... Each edition of this classic gets better -- more hardy roses (now more than 100 cultivars) profiled, and more growing information on planting, wintering over and pruning. There are detailed instructions on propagating roses and how to fend off diseases and pests, although most of Osborne's recommendations are disease-resistant.

Garden Making Blog

The book is beautifully illustrated and contains countless tips on growing your favourite roses.

Edmonton Journal

This is a great book for those new to rose growing or someone who has grown roses for awhile and wants to expand the selection of roses in their garden... Hardy Roses has succinct sections on rose care, covering siting, drainage, soil pH and fertility; pruning; and diseases and pests. Illustrations are particularly helpful in the siting and pruning sections... Hardy Roses is a well-designed, useful guide to growing roses in the North.

Minnesota State Horticultural Society