Product Description

Describing over 1000 plants, with common names, descriptions and personal judgements on thousands of species and varieties, Christopher Lloyd outlines how to choose perennial herbaceous plants, including corms and bulbs, and what to avoid.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #829582 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
"The book I have been waiting for all my gardening life"--Anna Pavord

"No-one knows more about perennials. No-one writes about them more colourfully. This is the book gardeners have been waiting for." --Alan Titchmarsh

These statements say it all. Written by Christopher Lloyd, the well-known, prolific gardening journalist and writer, who was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1979 for his services to horticulture, the book is a delight for gardeners everywhere and uses the author's personal judgement rather than just giving encyclopaedic descriptions of the plant. He has lived in the same house all his life, a 15th century half-timbered manor house at Great Dixter, developing and refining the glorious garden by continually experimenting with new plants and ideas.

"Perennials are what he knows best, perhaps better than anyone alive."

Strictly speaking, the term "perennial" is used to refer to any plant that carries on living over a period of years as an individual and it includes shrubs and trees, but gardeners generally imply herbaceous perennials, the word "herbaceous" having been dropped. Therefore perennial generally now refers to none-woody plants which live from year to year but disappear from sight at certain periods when the climate does not favour growth.

The book is arranged alphabetically from acanthus to zigadenus, and the accompanying photographs are excellent. The introduction includes advice on flexibility and choice, limitations, best features, colour and impact, perennials among trees, planting, replanting, support, dead heading and families--all you will ever need to know. --Susan Naylor

About the Author
Christopher Lloyd is the most famous garden author and plantsman of our times. In 1963 he started writing for Country Life and has not missed an issue since. He also writes for the Guardian and Horticulture in the US. In 1979 the Royal Horticultural Society awarded him their highest accolade, the Victoria Medal of Honour. He also won the Garden Writers' Guild Reference Book of the Year Award with CHRISTOPHER LLOYD'S GARDEN FLOWERS.

Customer Reviews

Superb reference book, but not for the beginner
This is a really detailed, useful and personal book. It is arranged alphabetically by latin name of plants. The text is peppered with witty remarks and unusual, convincing opinions. It is not suitable for the beginner because it assumes that you know the latin name of plants, and only really works if you already know what plant you are interested in. It is not really a glossy book, although there are colour plates grouped together at several points: instead there is plenty of meaty, thorough text which is also very readable.

If you are keen on gardening this is definitely worth the money, and I think you would find yourself referring to it for many years to come, but be warned: if you pick it up to check one particular plant, it is very difficult to put it down again!

keenly observed and very beautiful
no one ever reads past the first line of a review, but don't let that apply to this book. Read it all. The pictures are nice, but what makes the difference is the way the text brings them to life, and then into your basket at the garden centre checkout.