These aren't the cheapest books available,
but to my mind they're the best. They cover almost everything the average and
also the quite-a-long-way-beyond-average gardener will ever need.
|
|
American Horticultural
Society Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers
Hardcover:
720 pages DK Publishing;
Published November 1, 2002
Buy
this book now
|
The following review refers to the first edition of the book published in 1989,
the latest versions build on this earlier volume
An excellent plant book set
out in a very useable manner. Plants are catalogued by type (see contents below)
and then separated into season of interest and color. For instance Shrubs /
small is further subdivided into:
Other categories of plants: trees / small, medium, large:
perennials small, medium, large etc. are similarly arranged.
The first half of the book has color pictures of the plant
/ flower with basic information, e.g.:
|
Box 1
Passiflora coccinea (Red Passion
Flower) Vigorous, evergreen, woody-stemmed tendril climber with
rounded, oblong leaves. Has bright deep scarlet flowers, with red ,
pink and white crowns, from spring to autumn. H 3-4m (10-12ft) Min 15°C
(59°F).
There are then symbols informing
of requirement for sun or shade, water availability and frost hardiness
|
The second half of the book
is dedicated to more detailed descriptions of the habits and growing requirements
of the plants described. This is followed by further descriptions of similar
species or sub-species and varieties. e.g.:
|
Box 2
FORSYTHIA (Oleaceae)
Genus of deciduous, spring flowering shrubs, grown
for their usually profuse, yellow flowers, which open before the leaves
emerge.
F. x intermedia 'Beatrix Farrand' and F. x i. 'Lynwood'
make attractive flowering hedges. Fully hardy. Prefers full sun and
fertile, well drained soil. Thin out old shoots and trim hedges immediately
after flowering. Propagate by softwood cuttings in summer or hardwood
cuttings in autumn or winter.
There then follows for this group
further descriptions of 9 species or named varieties in addition to
the pictured variety listed under Shrubs medium / spring interest /
yellow.
|
There are indexes that can
be used to find a plant according to common or Latin name. Over 8000 plants
are covered and there are over 4000 high quality photographs.
The book can be used to find
plants if you know the name or find a plant by characteristics if you know what
you want for a position, but don't know which plants fit the bill.
If you're at all interested
in plants then look forwards to many long hours sitting and looking through
this book at all the tempting specimens that will sit there winking at you from
between the pages along with full details of how large they grow, what shape
they will be and how to look after them properly.
There are also useful lists
of plants for particular situations, sandy soil, paving and wall crevices, flowers
for drying, architectural plants and many more.
The first half of the
book is "The Plant Catalogue" Set out as follows with full illustrations as
in box 1 above
The second half is "The Plant
Dictionary" as in box 2 above
