Where the Old Roses Grow: Vita Sackville-West and the Battle for Beauty During Wartime

During the Second World War and in the decades after it, a group of rose lovers, including the writer and gardener Vita Sackville-West, the florist Constance Spry, and the horticulturist Graham Stuart Thomas, realised that heritage roses were becoming endangered.

Fearing for their future, these rosarians began collecting rare, old roses to save them from dying out while England’s gardeners were away fighting on the front. Where the Old Roses Grow tells the extraordinary story of how they did this, while the German bombers were scorching the skies, Hitler was advancing on their lives, and hope was being extinguished, month by month.

This is a tale of gardens and roses in wartime, and of fortitude and tenacity in the face of great loss and pain, but it is also a story of hope. It celebrates the achievements of an inspired group of rose lovers, who saved Britain’s favourite flower, so it could survive and bloom for future generations.

Janelle McCulloch has worked as a journalist in London, a magazine editor on several design and lifestyle titles in Australia, and a regular writer for publications such as Vogue Living. She is the author of more than 20 books, including Gardens of Style: Private Hideaways of the Design World (Rizzoli, 2018). Janelle divides her time between Australia, England and the US.