Product Description

The ultimate guide to annuals, biennials, and perennials. This comprehensive A-Z listing identifies over 2,000 flowering plants, and includes a wealth of information on cultivation in all climate and soil conditions. Also includes a handy reference table and an index of common names and synonyms, which makes for easy use. Truly an exceptional value with over 1,000 pages and over 2,500 beautiful, full-color images. Makes an impressive botanical library with its companion volume, Botanica's Trees & Shrubs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #557650 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1008 pages

Customer Reviews

Delightful Pictures and Excellent Information
Botanica's books have always had great pictures and information, but in the past the books have been more for professionals than the average gardener. This book is great for the average gardener and the professional as well.

One excellent feature of the book is that the authors know what gardeners are buying, and these items are all in this book. I checked for many of these relatively new items, like Osteospermum (from South Africa), the new varieties of Polemonium and Heuchera with interesting foliage, scaevola (from Australia).

The descriptions in the book begin with the place of origin for each genus, which is very helpful to understanding how to grow the plant, followed by excellent cultural information, including division and propagation. Also, the hardiness zone is very easy to find for each cultivar. You won't have to get all excited about a perennial only to find that it is not hardy in your area. Each hardiness zone is listed at the bottom of the description.

And of course, the pictures are wonderful. The major groups of perennials and annuals are very well represented. For example there are 7 pages of peonies, 10 pages of dianthus, many pages of day lilies, etc. There is also a reference table and a good index.

This is a very worthwhile book to own, and very complete.

If you buy only one gardening book...let it be this one!
For the beginning gardener, it's a godsend. For the experienced gardener, it's a necessary tool. Because this book not only gives you the general low-down on run-of-the-mill garden annuals and perennials, it's also chock full of COLOR photos of the flowers and all kinds of variations within the species. If you have a flower in your garden and you're itching to identify it, or you don't know how to care for it, chances are, you'll find it here. If you can find it anywhere, this is the place. A great gift also for anyone starting a new garden. BUY THIS BOOK. You'll be happy, you did.

Nice photos but flawed otherwise
I bought this book thinking it would be comprehensive and a useful resource for planning the flower beds around our house, but found it to have a number of shortcomings.

On the plus side, it does have lots of nice photos. However, I usually can't find the particular cultivars that it has in local greenhouses, nor does it often have photos of the cultivars that they do stock.

On the con side, the worst flaw is the index, which is practically useless. Many of the plants that I have looked up are not listed by EITHER latin or common names in the index, though some of them are in fact listed in the book. In some cases, the index will refer you to another name ("see under X") but then X is not listed in the index either. It is maddening. The end result is that in many cases I cannot find anything about even common species in this book.

Also, the book has very little specific information about what types of conditions each plant prefers, and how to cultivate it. This is due in part to the large number of different varieties that it contains, so that the book tends to generalize (eg, plants of the X family prefer sun or shade, depending on the variety). So that makes it much less useful.

I would recommend this book only if you know a lot about gardening already and only want it as a reference to look up photos of different strains of flowers.