cover image Old Garden Roses and Selected Modern Hybrids: And Selected Modern Hybrids

Old Garden Roses and Selected Modern Hybrids: And Selected Modern Hybrids

Josh Westrich. Thames & Hudson, $50 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-500-54138-8

Compared to these color photographs of roses, the pictures in most flower books are mere mug shots. Photographer Westrich has set out to glorify horticultural stars, much as Annie Liebowitz shoots the human variety. Misted, back-lit and front-lit, glowing against pearl-hued backdrops, suggestively oozing dewdrops, his 83 subjects are unveiled in nearly pornographic close-ups. If the pictures fail to convey what these rapt blossoms look like in the ground or the vase, that's not the point. For information, turn to the small print on rose habits and lineage in the back of the book. In her introduction, journalist Dierauff intersperses random personal reflections (``Roseswhat an unfathomable source of inspi ration!'') with literary quotations. Garden Book Club selection. (Nov.)