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Summary: plant lovers might need an education
Review: I ordered this book in hopes that it would give me information on plant heartiness, when and where to plant, diseases, pests and cures. It does that, and so much more. Too much more. It really is more for the horticultural enthusiast/expert, and less for the weekend gardener. The information is vast, the pictures are wonderful, but the "lingo" is a bit professional. I do feel rather cool having it in my collection though! PS, this book weighs a TON! Beware!
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Summary: The Gardener's Tech Bible
Review: If you need or are just curious to find out anything and everything about all aspects of garden plants, this is a must-have gardening encyclopedia!
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Summary: The Most Complete Source Around
Review: Simply put, this is the most thorough, most complete, book on garden plants that is available. It includes some 15,000 garden plants. Usually each plant is completely discussed, pictured, given hints on cultivation, some history, territorial range, propagation, pests and diseases, common names, and varieties.
The plants are listed by their botanical names, which is probably the only way they could have done it. For instance, under Clematis, the common names Old Man's Beard, Traveler's Joy, and Virgin's Bower are given. Since Clematis has some 250 separate varieties with wildly differing flowers and sizes, the description runs about five and two thirds pages with 54 illustrations of various blooms. Dozens of varieties are discussed.
There is no question that this book belongs on the desk of any serious gardener. The one complaint about it is the common name section at the back of the book is a bit week. For instance if you look up Old Man's Beard, it properly refers you to Clematis. But Carnaby, one of the varieties of Clematis it isn't listed. I can't think of any other problems. And when I put Carnaby Flower into the Google search engine, it immediately came up with Clematis-Carnaby so I rank this a minor problem.
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Summary: The only resource you'll ever need.
Review: The A-Z is a serious horticulturalist's tool. It's comprehensive, has great color photos, and is the only gardening encyclopedia you'll ever need. It doesn't follow fads or trends (like Flora) but rather stays more academic in its scope. Also it gives a basic lesson in botany and growing and disesaes, so it's very thorough and useful. Love it love it love it.
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Summary: Useful, but...
Review: The variety of plants contained in this volume is comparatively remarkable and I have successfully found information on quite a few things.That said, the descriptions and other details on the varieties within the genera are uneven and illustrations used are often too small for identification, particularly if the foliage is not shown in the cases of flowers which appear nearly-identical. Some varieties of plants such as calabrichoa (million bells) which are very popular, at least in my own area, are not there; some which are included, such as bacopa, only mention two colors when there are several in circulation. These sticking points are relatively minor compared to my principal and ongoing complaint about nearly every plant book I have read or purchased: there is no pronunciation guide. This is a huge handicap when one is attempting to ask for, or for information about, plants such as Heuchera, Weigela, Clematis, Corydalis and a multitude of others with multiple possibilities. It makes no sense that such an obviously huge undertaking as the compilation of this book could not include how the name should be said in the heading (not some section in the back which would require constant turning).
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Summary: Best Plant Book Known to Man!
Review: This book as never let me down. A friend recently gave me a leaf of a plant from her yard. I was able to identify it within 4 minutes!
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Summary: The best compilation for plants out there yet!
Review: This book is absolutely wonderful with all the quick information you would ever need for plants in North America. It does cover propogation, cultivation, and common pest for a particular plant very well, and the color pictures are superb. The common names for plants found in your stores are are easily found by doing a cross reference at the back of the book. It's not at all difficult to find what you are looking for. Ofcourse, you cannot expect to find every single hybrid names that are being churned out everyday covered in here 'cause thats not practical. I found that pretty much all the plants i reasearched for with names from hardware stores and nurseries were covered in here. You do need the sister book for identifying and controlling pests and diseases. Nevertheless, this is a superb book for a resource and the best out there yet. It's worth the weight! Get the sister book for pests and diseases and you'll be all set!
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Summary: Strange--the zone information often appears to be wrong
Review: This book is great in some ways--beautiful pictures of plants are more useful than Southern Living or Sunset. Minor quibbles are that a very few unusual species aren't listed and it doesn't always give a good reason why a particular cultivar is preferred. The choice of zone information--USDA & AHS--is more useful for me than the more-general Southern Living or Sunset zones. But the USDA zone rating appears to often be inaccurate, particularly (but not only) for the new tropical zones 12-15 (lots of plants commonly grown in the continental US can't be grown there, according to this rating). Since I don't get the USDA zone from Southern Living or Sunset, I was hoping to get it from this book. It's often correct---but since it also has many mistakes, I always need to double-check elsewhere.
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Summary: A BOOK FOR EVERY GARDNER
Review: THIS BOOK SHOULD BE A MANDATORY, MUST HAVE FOR ANYONE WHO PURCHASES A HOME, ALREADY HAS A HOME, OR IS THINKING OF DOING ANY GARDENING AT ALL.........
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Summary: A Comprehensive Guide to Plants
Review: This enormous reference book is exactly what an avid gardener needs - with entries covering perennials, annuals, woodland plants, trees, shrubs, and just about any other plants available both commercially and naturally. The individual entries contain information about cultivars, propagation, problem pests and diseases, as well as a concise description of the plant's appearance and growth requirements. Most, though not all, include a small photograph of at least one specimen. Plants are listed by their botanical names; if you do not know the genus, you'll have to look up the common name first in the index. This volume also contains a visual glossary (inside the front cover), and excellent sections on general botany, the garden environment, and propagation techniques. The only drawback to this otherwise excellent encyclopedia is the near-impossibility of identifying unknown plants. The entries are not listed (or cross-listed) by type, requiring the gardener to page through nearly one thousand pages of pictures to identify, say, a particular woodland plant. And forget leaf identification since most photographs are taken from a distance to capture the whole of a species. This would make an excellent gift for any gardener. It is hefty and comprehensive. Especially for those interested in non-mainstream plants, this book is a must-have.
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