Product Description

This is an easy-to-use, pictorial guide to over 2500 tried-and-tested, commonly available garden plants and flowers. Every plant in this reference is illustrated in colour, many with insect details to show the plant's growing habit. The entries are divided into broad groups, from trees and climbers to bulbs and ferns, and special features showcase the most popular plants, such as roses and clematis. Concise, authoritative text provides essential information on specific plants, including possible uses in the garden and particular horticultural needs, and tip boxes appear throughout. A comprehensive practical chapter offers down-to-earth advice on basic plant care, illustrated with clear, step-by-step photographs. In addition, there are lists of plants for places that make it easy to select the best plants for any site, from exposed seaside plots to gardens on steep slopes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #280456 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 420 pages

Review
There is no more solid authority on choice garden plants and flowers than the Royal Horticultural Society. This extravagantly illustrated book is an unputdownable reference for all gardeners, novice, expert, reluctant or enthusiastic, an essential guide to the panoply of plants on offer today. With breeders introducing new varieties faster than they can be sold, working out which cultivar is best to grow in the garden is not an easy task. And with gardens shrinking thanks to overbuilding, the correct choice becomes that much more important with every plant having to earn its keep. Divided into five A-Z sections - trees and shrubs, climbing plants, flowering plants, bamboos and grasses, ferns - author Ian Spence, former Head Gardener at Geoff Hamilton's garden, Barnsdale, gives a short precis of each plant's requirements and cultivation details. He follows these sections up with a comprehensive look at designing your garden, buying plants, planting, pruning and general aftercare. Propagation and pest control are also covered making this a well-rounded reference on the subject suitable for gardeners of all levels. Endless hours of contemplation will be spent amongst its inspiring pages, ensuring yet again that the RHS in conjunction with Dorling Kindersley have produced a book that will become highly prized and highly thumbed. - Lucy Watson

About the Author
Ian Spence was Geoff Hamilton's right-hand man at Barnsdale through all his Gardener's World years. Living in Oakland, Rutland, he is now established as both a magazine journalist and horticultural author including the RHS Gardening Through the Year for DK.