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Summary: A MUST-have!
Review: For anyone in the landscape industry, Dirr's hardcover illustrated manual is a MUST -- it's the Bible for every designer!
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Summary: Multi-season pictures very helpful
Review: For me, the most helpful and unique feature of this book was the pictures of the same plant in different seasons. It can be quite difficult to visualize how a plant will look in winter when looking at a lush, flowering specimen in the middle of July. I was able to rule out a few trees based on the pictures and descriptions, and I found several others I hadn't considered.
The book gives basic information about a wide variety of shrubs and trees; it is a guide for selection and you may need to supplement this information with another source related to the specific species you select. The pictures are excellent. The descriptions are written in "plain English" (no obvate doubly articulated panticles here!), which I can appreciate as a novice gardener.
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Summary: The best pictorial tree book
Review: I am not a professional landscape designer, but wanted a reference to help choose trees and shrubs for a small space. This book provides both beautiful photos of mature specimens as well as the relevant information on plant habit & culture. I highly recommend this as a companion to the excellent "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants", also by Dirr. Together, these two make up the most useful (by far) of the general books on trees & shrubs I have found.
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Summary: Fantastic Photos
Review: I love to design with plants. If I don't know a particular plant, this photographic reference is very helpful. This book is full of great information but there is not room for photos of all the different cultivars and the characteristics of the same. I prefer to use this book as a secondary reference to Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. The Manual lists most all the cultivars available and the growing characteristics of each, but no color photos (at least not in the 4th edition). The Illustrated Encyclopedia has wonderful photos but not enough plant info. To someone experienced with woody plants, this picture book is just not enough info to really know what to expect from a plant. Get it, but also have the Manual alongside.
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Summary: This is a great reference book !
Review: I purchased this book for a reference book .. I use it to find trees and plants suitable for my climate . The illustrations are excellent giving both spring and fall photographs . It seems very helpful to me seeing what a tree or shrub looks like . After all apperance is most of a tree or shrub that I look for ... If you enjoy planting and watching things grow I deffinately recomend this book as a referance ...
Rating: 
Summary: shallow content
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. Having read the reviews, I expect depth and content - instead I got a book with pretty pictures and shallow content. If you want a picture book with minimal comments on the trees, then this is for you. If you want a book for identifying trees and their characteristics, I recommend: Trees of the Northern United States and Canada, by John Laird Farrar.
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Summary: This is a great book for anyone wanting to know about trees!
Review: I'm a Landscape designer in the Kansas City area and love this book for it's pictures. Customers want to know what a tree looks like and this book has a picture of most any tree I need. It's also a great reference for myself and others in the industry and also those who are not. It's a great book.
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Summary: The ultimate in reference texts about shrubs and trees.
Review: Michael Dirr, one of the nation's preeminent woody plants experts, sets what should be the standard for plant books. This compendium is in a class by itself for its honest descriptions. It 490 pages offer a lot of information and more than 1,600 color photographs. Use it and you'll make good plant selections.
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Summary: A pictoral & literary masterpiece re: trees and shrubs
Review: The book is invaluable to the experienced nurseryperson and is also extraordinarily interesting to the home gardener. As a landscape designer, I could not exist without it as a reference. It's written (and photographed) by someone who's "been there, seen that" in heartfelt, knowledge-packed language. I would suggest two changes to the author and publisher: If the "critical data/information"--zones, maturity height, etc.--were treated in smaller type (i.e., set off from the editorial text), there would be more space for Dirr's wonderful insights on each plant. Also, since I'm fairly new at Latin terminology, a phonetic descriptor for each of the Latin names, small and underneath each, would be very helpful. This book could easily be priced (higher), and I bet it would sell just as many. I'd still buy it.
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Summary: A fabulous illustrated reference by the woody plant expert
Review: The great American plantsman Michael A. Dirr of the University of Georgia is also one of the masters of plant photography. This lavishly illustrated encyclopedia describes the best woody plants-from Abeliophyllum to Zenobia-adapted to cooler climates, showing both habit and details of more than 500 species, and including some 700 additional cultivars and varieties. The superb photographs that illustrate each listing have been chosen as the best of Dirr's enormous slide collection, which he has built over 25 years. Brief cultural information is included for each plant, as well as Dirr's perceptive comments. The book also contains 36 tables listing the best plants for specific characteristics and purposes, including flower color and fragrance, fruit, fall color, bark, habit, size, and tolerance to wet soil, heat and drought, salt, and shade. The book is intended primarily for Hardiness Zones 3 to 6, but many of the plants thrive into Zone 8 or higher. This is unquestionably one of the most beautiful and significant books ever published by Timber Press.
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