There's something about roses that no other flower can match. Is it the velvety petals? The intoxicating scent? The beautiful colours? The exciting thorns? Or the whole package?

We humans are simply mad about roses. We were centuries ago and we still are now, so it makes sense that we want them in our gardens. But then there's the question of which ones – a cluster rose, a shrub rose, an old rose or perhaps an English rose after all? What are the differences between this one and the next?

The Joy of Roses will give you the answers to these kinds of questions and any others you may have about planting and caring for roses. How should you prune them? Where can you find good, healthy roses? What does a rose grower do? How can you use roses in your garden or on your balcony? What other plants can roses be combined with? How do you dry rose petals? Can you eat roses? And did you know that roses don't really have thorns? They're spines!

The book is full of beautiful photos by Anneke Beemer. They may well inspire you to buy a rose shrub (or yet another one!) for your garden or patio or balcony, or to make a flower arrangement with roses, or rose water. Or maybe just a jar of rose hip jam. You can do all these things with roses: there are good reasons why they're known as the Queen of Flowers.