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DAVIS -- A just-published guide from the University of California shows the home rose enthusiast how to grow beautiful roses with little or no use of toxic materials.

Healthy Roses: Environmentally Friendly Ways to Manage Pests and Disorders in Your Garden and Landscape was written by UC Cooperative Extension experts in entomology and environmental horticulture. The attractive, easy-to-use guide is illustrated with 48 outstanding photographs of elegant roses and many of the good and bad bugs, diseases and disorders that can occur in a rose garden. Also included are handy tables on soil pH and nutrient levels.

"Roses have had an undeserved reputation as temperamental, demanding plants with many pest problems," authors Mary Louise Flint and John F. Karlik write in the opening section. "Through careful selection of plant varieties and management of environmental conditions with proper cultural practices, beautiful roses can be grown with a minimum of pest problems."

Flint, a UC Davis entomologist, is also the publications director of the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Project. Karlik is a UC Cooperative Extension horticulture advisor in Kern County. They offer sound advice on how to adapt IPM practices such as controlling pests and diseases with beneficial insects, traps and barriers and how to use less toxic soaps, oils and microbials. Flint and Karlik also show you how to head off problems before they start with careful varietal and site selection, proper planting and watering techniques and advice on pruning and weed management.

Healthy Roses: Environmentally Friendly Ways to Manage Pests and Disorders in Your Garden and Landscape (ANR Publication 21589) is a bargain at $10 and is available from most local county offices of UC Cooperative Extension. Or contact UC ANR Communication Services, 6701 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, CA 94608-1239; phone: (800) 994-8849; FAX (510) 643-5470; or online at http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu.

(EDITORS: For a review copy of Healthy Roses: Environmentally Friendly Ways to Manage Pests and Disorders in Your Garden and Landscape, contact Cynthia Kintigh at 530/754-5065.