Experimentation leads to hardier, more beautiful plant varieties

The La Crosse Tribune reviews GROWING SHRUBS AND SMALL TREES IN COLD CLIMATES by Debbie Lonnee, Nancy Rose, Don Selinger, and John Whitman.

Lonnee_Growing coverShakespeare believed a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But then, he never experienced the Knockout Rose series.

For those of us gardening in northern climes, the Knockout lives up to its name because it can take the one-two punch of long, cold winters and still bounce back with beautiful blooms.

But longtime rose gardeners didn't have that choice decades ago because it hadn't been developed yet. It would take years of experimentation to bring this easy-to-grow rose to market, and it changed the gardening game. Suddenly, anyone could grow roses.

And the same thing has happened throughout the gardening world with other plants, which is why the book, "Growing Shrubs and Small Trees in Cold Climates," has been updated and re-released by the University of Minnesota Press.

Published in: La Crosse Tribune
By: Geri Parlin