The Rose Rustlers - Greg Grant & William Welch

Inside the front cover: "In The Rose Rustlers, Greg Grant and William C. Welch offer a personal, and in-depth, and entertaining account of some of the great stories gathered during their years as participants in one of the most important plant hunting efforts of the twentieth century--the quest to save antique roses that disappeared from the market in a notoriously trend-driven business. By the 1950s, modern roses (those with one perfect bloom at the top of a long stem) were grown almost exclusively for the cut-flower market. The large rounded shrubs and billowy fence climbers known to our grandparents and great-grandparents in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had been reduced to this rather monotonous single style of plant. Yet those roses of old still grew, tough and persistent, in farmyards, cemeteries, vacant lots, and abandoned fields. The rediscovery of these antiques and the subsequent movement to conserve them became the mission of "rose rustlers," dedicated rosarians who studied, sought, cut, and cultivated these hardy survivors. Here the authors chronicle their own origins, adventures, and discoveries as part of a group dubbed the Texas Rose Rustlers. They present tales of the many efforts that have helped restore lost roses not only to residential gardens but also to commercial and church landscapes in the South. Their experiences and friendships with others in the heirloom rose world bring an insider's perspective to the lore of "rustling," the art of propogation, and the continued fascination with the world's favorite flower."

Inside the back cover:

"Greg Grant is the Smith County horticulturist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Tyler. A lifetime member of the Southern Garden History Society, he writes the column "In Greg's Garden" for Texas Gardener magazine and is the coauthor (with William C. Welch) of Heirloom Gardening in the South."

"William C. Welch is professor and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service landscape horticulturist in the department of horticultural science, Texas A&M University. He received the Flora Ann Bynum medal from the southern Garden History Scoiety and is author of coauthor of several books, including Perennial Garden Color and The Bulb Hunter (with Chris Wiesinger)."

7 x 9.50; 232 pages; color photos; index; Publication 2017