Recensori in anteprima

What do Phyllis Diller, Raymond Carver, Madame Marie Curie, and Snow White have in common? The answer is among the stories of twelve hundred glorious blossoms and their myriad and mystifying names. Encompassing art, literature, science, technology, history, and everything in between, the stories behind rose varieties include enough curiosities, romance, tragedy, wit, mystery, scandal, and earthy delights to satisfy even those who would never dream of actually tending a plant. In addition to names, readers will learn that the perfume of ‘Rosa Gallica’ wafted through Pliny’s Roman villa and lulled Marie Antoinette on the night before her wedding; that ‘Eglantine’ is threaded through Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; that roses in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were mainly raised for medicinal purposes; and that the world of rose-naming rights is one of complicated and fiercely guarded copyrights and patents. With full-color art throughout, this eclectic little volume is a must-have for die-hard rosarians—and, for the less rose-obsessed, it’s simply a marvelous miscellany starring what is arguably the world’s most popular flower. STEPHEN SCANNIELLO is best known as the gardener who transformed the Cranford Rose Garden of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden into one of the world’s most acclaimed rose gardens. President of the Heritage Rose Foundation and a member of the American Rose Society, he is a judge for the international rose trials in Europe and the United States. DOUGLAS BRENNER writes about gardens, antiques, and architecture for publications such as the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, and Country Living.