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Summary: Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Orna
Review: Dirr has the final word on all woody plants. You would be hardpressed to find any tree or shrub commonly used (and not so commonly used) today that is not listed in this incredible encyclopedia. I saved my copy from when it was a textbook in my Woody Lanscape Plants class in college, and have since updated to the latest version to use in practice 15 years later. A truly unbeleivable wealth of knowledge.
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Summary: A must have resource for the Horticultural Professional
Review: Don't confuse this text with a light weight treatise on the author's favorite plants. Dr. Dirr's work give insightful knowledge on those he dislikes to those he favors with equal depth of detail. I have been referring to this work for over ten years and have not found a serious error in that time. The Manual of Woody Landscape Plants has become the Bible at my place of work. From botanical classification to the plant's landscape value, I have not found a book that is its equal. My sole reservation is the quality of the binding. I've owned both the hard and soft covered books and both bindings have been inferior. They deteriorate not from abuse but from constant use far too quickly for a reference source of this level.
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Summary: On my short list of best horticultural references
Review: I have a lot of reference books covering landscaping, plant propagation, identification, and disease problems. Dr. Dirr has done a fantastic job of compiling all of this information (and a few welcome opinions) for a couple thousand landscape plants into one consise work. When I have a question, this book is usually my first stop. Information on common species is very comprehensive. However lesser used landscape plants are covered in an abbreviated manner, which sometimes forces me to find other resources (which are not difficult to locate thanks to the large number of cited references). The indexes of both common and scientific names make this sizable volume easy to navigate and usable. The glossary and sections on morphology and identification are handy, espically for beginners or those of us who have been out of college for a while! Additionally, the thoughtful layout and readable type size make this manual more usable than other similar books I have encountered. Dr. Dirr has created an excellent volume which is on my short list of horticultural reference works.
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Summary: Great reference, but...
Review: I have recently moved to Virginia from California and was delighted to discover this book. It identifies my many trees and helps me decide what trees and shrubs will be most appropriate for landscaping. The author's style and wit are refreshing in what initially looks to be a dry, botanical reference work. But I would not recommend this work for gardeners in the west or southwest. Many of the common trees and shrubs found there are not mentioned or given very short shrift here. Examples are bouganvilla, myoporum, and citrus of all sorts. Many others...eucalyptus in all its variations, rockroses, and the multitude of ceanothus, are given very light treatment compared to their usefulness in the landscape. It is understandably difficult to include all the woody plants of landscaping value in this country. If somewhere in the introduction or the title Mr. Dirr made it clear that his work focuses on eastern and southeastern species and cultivars, unsuspecting buyers in other parts of the country would be forewarned. With such a caveat, I would heartily recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: Great reference, but...
Review: I have recently moved to Virginia from California and was delighted to discover this book. It identifies my many trees and helps me decide what trees and shrubs will be most appropriate for landscaping. The author's style and wit are refreshing in what initially looks to be a dry, botanical reference work. But I would not recommend this work for gardeners in the west or southwest. Many of the common trees and shrubs found there are not mentioned or given very short shrift here. Examples are bouganvilla, myoporum, and citrus of all sorts. Many others...eucalyptus in all its variations, rockroses, and the multitude of ceanothus, are given very light treatment compared to their usefulness in the landscape. It is understandably difficult to include all the woody plants of landscaping value in this country. If somewhere in the introduction or the title Mr. Dirr made it clear that his work focuses on eastern and southeastern species and cultivars, unsuspecting buyers in other parts of the country would be forewarned. With such a caveat, I would heartily recommend the book.
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Summary: Directory of woody cultivars
Review: In spite of all the accolades heaped upon this directory of woody cultivars it is not without a downside. The sturdy size and thick paper which make it stand up to horticulturally engaged hands make for a clumsy book at home or in the library. Not much thought was given to lay-out and typography, with the wrong font chosen for this lay-out. The style of writing is rather dry and a little wordy. The nurseryman's indifference to spelling shines through often enough to make me ache for a corrector's pencil. The cover claims "Identification" as a primary function of the book, but all the 'Manual' has to offer here is looking up a supposed identity and making a comparison. Pictorial support is quite limited (usually one line-drawing per species, mostly of a single leaf). What this book does offer is the chance to quickly look up an unfamiliar cultivar, and this is why reviewers call it a "Bible". Any use beyond that will be a bonus.
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Summary: Textbook with a narrow focus...
Review: MANUAL OF WOODY LANDSCAPE PLANTS by Michael Dirr is a huge book with hundreds of entries, many, but not all, shown with illustrations (twig and leaf structure of branch speciments only; bark texture, trunk/branch shape and mature plant specimens are not shown). The plasticized hard cover will hold up to use, but the pages are a bit on the thin side. The MANUAL is too big to take on a nature walk, so you will have to bring plant specimens home if you intend it for that purpose. THE MANUAL contains a 'Scientific Name Index' and a 'Common Name Index' so, for example, you can find cross references for Littleleaf Linden and 'Tillia cordata' as well as various 'Juglans' or nut trees. Although it's jam-packed with useful information, the MANUAL is far from exhaustive. Sometimes obvious examples are missing. I've had a nut tree in my back yard for almost thirty years, which I belived was a Black Walnut until I had a tree specialist prune it. He tells me it's a Persian Walnut, or English Walnut as it's known at the grocery store. I eagerly searched my new MANUAL and found a small entry with no illustration and little detail to help me distinguish it from the Black Walnut I believed it to be. Apparently the tree sprouted from a nut buried by a squirrel. As far as I know the Persian Walnut is not a native species and the MANUAL does seem to be more inclusive of native woody species. The MANUAL contains a section on Roses, but you'll find a better guide for these woody flowering plants in other sources such as BOTANICA'S ROSES or the AMERICAN GARDEN BOOK published by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. There are no color photos of the roses listed, nor does the MANUAL reveal the requisite growing requirements. All in all, the book is moderately useful for the gardener or the naturalist, but you will probably want to supplement it with other sources if you're interested in a particular group of plants like roses.
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Summary: The Nurseryman's Bible
Review: This is absolutely the best text available for the referencing of woody trees and shrubs grown in North America. This book is not meant as a guide for tree identification, so much as it's a way to look up all the significant horticultural information on almost any given species or cultivar. It's simply too lengthy a tome to incorporate many illustrations, and those present are usually small sketches of leaf characteristics. (For excellent photographs of a number of species see "Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia") This text is very easy to use and alphabetized according to botanical name, with a glossary/index in the back to provide the scientific name when only the common name of a species is known. Dirr himself also provides entertaining blurbs on what he perceives to be the plants best (or . . . less than best) assets for landscape usage, and it's always interesting to see another's opinion regarding plants that you know and love. He also gives a list of stunning specimens and their locales that he's come across in his travels, as well as the "champion" (largest known) specimens for a given species. I have used this (or previous . . . the text is updated somewhat frequently to keep pace with newer cultivars) edition of Dirr's manual for the last ten years as I worked at a major nursery (Waterloo Gardens, Inc.), and I frequently reccomended it to individuals interested in furthering their own knowledge. This text is an excellent reference for the professional nurseryman as well as the horticultural enthusiast, and the time and effort that Dirr puts into this text is equally evident and impressive.
Rating:
Summary: The Nurseryman's Bible
Review: This is absolutely the best text available for the referencing of woody trees and shrubs grown in North America. This book is not meant as a guide for tree identification, so much as it's a way to look up all the significant horticultural information on almost any given species or cultivar. It's simply too lengthy a tome to incorporate many illustrations, and those present are usually small sketches of leaf characteristics. (For excellent photographs of a number of species see "Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia") This text is very easy to use and alphabetized according to botanical name, with a glossary/index in the back to provide the scientific name when only the common name of a species is known. Dirr himself also provides entertaining blurbs on what he perceives to be the plants best (or . . . less than best) assets for landscape usage, and it's always interesting to see another's opinion regarding plants that you know and love. He also gives a list of stunning specimens and their locales that he's come across in his travels, as well as the "champion" (largest known) specimens for a given species. I have used this (or previous . . . the text is updated somewhat frequently to keep pace with newer cultivars) edition of Dirr's manual for the last ten years as I worked at a major nursery (Waterloo Gardens, Inc.), and I frequently reccomended it to individuals interested in furthering their own knowledge. This text is an excellent reference for the professional nurseryman as well as the horticultural enthusiast, and the time and effort that Dirr puts into this text is equally evident and impressive.
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Summary: Landscape Horticulture
Review: This is the bible for woody landscape plants which include trees and shrubs. For folks who want to learn more about the plants that make up the "bones", or foundation, of a garden, the book is indispensible. Dirr's approach to writing about the plants he so obviously loves is to let the love, and yes, the dislike, for these plants shine through in his descriptions. In other words, although written by an academician, this is not an academic tome. He tells you what he likes/dislikes about a plant in no uncertain terms. The other great aspect of the book is the descriptions of the numerous cultivars for a given plant. The only thing I find missing is a section on where to find/buy the various plants that he writes about. Be advised there are no photos of the plants. If there were, the book would be a steal.
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