'The Quest for the Rose' by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix. I have this book too (from 1993! quite a while ago). It covers a lot more ground than just China and especially looks back to the history of the rose. A partnership between two people, both so brilliant at what they do, is pretty rare, but it is that really solid and strongly researched base which results in such fine television. So it looks like we are going to have to sit down and write something of the same quality about alpine gardening and then persuade some enlightened producers and film companies to get behind a programme of this sort. The big difference is that roses are universally popular, highly bred and grown and very romantic. Alpines are tiny little jewels that few people ever see, nearly impossible to grow and come from cold, windswept and inhospitable places only of interest to Wainwright and a few mountaineers, and grown in little pots at obscure Alpine Shows! Which of the emoticons should I add here?
