Product Description

Featuring 100 flowers from all over the world, these photographs appear in alphabetical order of botanical name and include both individual flower portraits - sometimes as many as four or five per species - and group shots which are accompanied by detailed captions on historical and cultural background. Many of the flowers are shown in their natural environment, and the book contains a directory of advice on planting, cultivation, soil conditions and other practical information.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #890020 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Clay Perry's book of fantastic flowers is--fantastic. It is filled with huge, close-up photographs of magnificent flowers, showing every little wrinkle in a petal and every little dewdrop on a stem. These are photographs of a master; the backgrounds, often black, are selected to give the full impact of a beautiful, translucent bloom with clever lighting adding a further dramatic effect.

Clay Perry, whose book David Austin's English Roses was named Garden Book of the Year in 1996, explains in his introduction that he has tried to emphasise what is so fantastic about flowers of all kinds. "There is an extraordinary diversity among them, from a lily-of-the-valley, with its delicately perfumed bells to the scaly talons of a heliconia or the amazing architectural structure of the euphorbia". It is easy to catch this enthusiasm that he translates so beautifully to the page.

Clay Perry's wife, Maggie, who, he says, first taught him to look closely at flowers, writes the text of this book, which follows an A to Z of flowers. A knowledgeable horticulturist herself, she writes an intriguing commentary on each flower, giving its historical background and its place in the garden of today. She provides practical information on the flowering season, soil preference, propagation, resilience and care. There is also a comprehensive index.

This is a book that any gardener, lover of flowers or someone who appreciates particularly fine photography will adore. If you buy it as a present you will probably keep it. --Judy Wyles

Customer Reviews

Excellent photographic catalogue of flowers
Very stylish book. Contains fantastic photographs, and concise summaries of each flower.
A perfect purchase as a gift or to treat yourself.