Product Description

A scholar among professional gardeners, Christopher Lloyd is famous throughout the English-speaking world for his articles in Country Life - decades of sustained brilliance and entertainment, unparalleled in gardening journalism. He is renowned also in Britain for the gardens of his Sussex home, Great Dixter, where he ceaselessly experiments with new ideas. Thirty years ago he wrote the classic Well-Tempered Garden. Now, he presents his lifetime's study of the gardener's main materials - perennial plants. Describing over one thousand plants, with common names, descriptions and judgements on thousands of species and varieties, he outlines how to choose perennials, what to choose and what absolutely not to choose. Most encyclopaedias show garden plants impartially: the easy and the difficult, the graceful, the graceless and the frankly awful, all without any discrimination. Lloyd goes further. With every group he discriminates, appraises, warns, speculates and experiments, offering an individual perspective on horticulture that will entertain, enthuse and inspire.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #453087 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 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. Christopher Lloyd currently lives in Northiam, Sussex.

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.