Product Description

The elegant and showy flowers of this fascinating woodland plant are eagerly awaited each spring. Also called wake robins, trilliums produce handsome flowers in pure white - some with dark purple or yellow centers - rose-pink, or streaked with maroon. Enthusiasm for trilliums is so great in Europe, where the popular plants are not native, that rare species and forms sell for fantastic prices. In Canada, the great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) is the provincial flower of Ontario and, in the United States, it has been featured by the Post Office in a wildflower stamp series. Best known of the trilliums with its 3-inch flowers, this species announces spring in large drifts over shady, moist ground. This first book-length treatment of this graceful garden plant covers trilliums worldwide. Part field guide and part gardener's handbook, it is intended for gardeners, naturalists, and amateur and professional botanists.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #787235 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 286 pages

From Booklist
The rare beauty of trilliums has made these woodland flowers among the most coveted specimens a dedicated gardener can grow--if and when one is lucky enough to locate nursery-propagated plants or patient enough to attempt growing them from seed. This highly readable guide presents a trove of information, complete with lovely photos, line drawings, and serviceable descriptions to help in identifying all known species. Having both grown trilliums for years and undertaken extensive study of plants in their native habitats, the authors know their subject intimately. Their enthusiasm and expertise are admirably conveyed here with invaluable counsel on plant habit in a garden setting. All trillium, from the most common types to those species acknowledged to be endangered, are discussed in considerable depth regarding areas of plant distribution and general habitat. Alice Joyce

Review
"Trilliums is a superb work, a complete review of all forty-three species that clarifies a muddled taxonomy while embracing a genuine appreciation for this beguiling ... group of garden-worthy plants."
—Dan Hinkley, Pacific Horticulture, Summer 1998 (Pacific Horticulture )

"After perusing this book, written by two addicted enthusiasts, you too will carry a torch for trilliums in the wild and in the garden."
—C. Colston Burrell, Horticulture, March 2001 (Horticulture )

"[This book has] been lauded as 'the bible for trillium gardeners.'"
—Deb Wiley, Midwest Living, April 2006 (Midwest Living )

After perusing this book, written by two addicted enthusiasts, you too will carry a torch for trilliums in the wild and in the garden. C. Colston Burrell, Horticulture, March 2001 (Horticulture )

Trilliums is a superb work, a complete review of all forty-three species that clarifies a muddled taxonomy while embracing a genuine appreciation for this beguiling ... group of garden-worthy plants. Dan Hinkley, Pacific Horticulture, Summer 1998 (Pacific Horticulture )

[This book has] been lauded as 'the bible for trillium gardeners.' Deb Wiley, Midwest Living, April 2006 (Midwest Living )

About the Author
Frederick W. Case, Jr., and his late wife, Roberta, were partners in delightful plant adventures for some four decades. Hardy explorers, they trekked through swamps and woodlands to see and photograph each of the North American Trillium species in the wild. They also grew all the American Trillium species and three of the Asiatic species in their experimental gardens in Saginaw, Michigan.

Customer Reviews

This is the Bible for Trillium gardeners
The book has three main sections. The first section is an introduction which contains 6 pages about Trillium history, native geography, and plant relatives. 25 pages about the anatomy, biology, and ecology of Trillium. 13 pages on horticulture and propagation. 7 pages on conservation and bioethics.

The second section addresses Trillium taxonomy. It contains 6 pages on taxonomy, 13 pages on a taxonomic key to species, and 160 pages describing 38 species of Trilliums. Each species is fully described by common name, scientific name, key anatomy characteristic, flowering season, habitat, geographic distribution (including a map of distribution), varieties and forms.

The third section contains extra species information, glossary, and index. There are 22 pages about 5 Asiatic species, 8 page Glossary, 6 page Bibliography, and a 5 page Index by species.
In addition, there are 78 full color photographs. Photography is crisp and clear. Each species is presented in one or more large images.

This book is a classic! The writing is genius! It is informative, timely, and absolutely fascinating. Every detail you could imagine is revealed about this interesting collecting of plants. Whether your interest is as a botanist, horticulturalist, conservationist, or perennial gardener, you will find the information to be complete and exceptionally well written.

The book is a monograph on Trillium. It is the single key source of information on this genus. It is such a great blend of botany, horticulture, and inspired writing, that all other genus specific books will have to be measured against this work. I really loved the way the authors brought together all these diverse facts into one very readable text.

If you love Trillium and want to learn more about this beautiful plant - buy this book!

A long-overdue treatment of a complex, beautiful genus.
After almost half a century of exploration, study, and propagation, Fred and Roberta Case have produced a masterpiece. "Trilliums" offers a thouough discussion of the spring wildflowers variously known as 'wake-robin', 'sweet Beth' and 'Trinity Lily'. The book isn't perfect-the range maps look slightly tacky and may be inaccurate in a few cases-but the text is excellent and the color photographs are outstanding. Professionals and amateurs will find this book very satisfying.

Ultimate Book On Trilliums: Up-to-Date and Accurate
I'm a wildflower photographer and live near the middle of trillium heaven: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Identification of wildflowers can be a tricky proposition--especially for trilliums which are often very similar and prone to hybridization and mutation. Actually, I'm in an area where botanists are at least weekly finding NEW species of wildflowers and other plants so it is always possible the trilliums I photographed were a new species.

The Trilliums book by Messrs. Case is perhaps the most extensive treatise I've seen on that genus. I'd previously used the Albert Radford book, Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas, as my "bible" for those hard-to-classifiy wildflowers. Case has shown the error of the Radford treatment for many trillium species.

If you are a serious student of trilliums then I highly recommend this very readable book. You'll not be disappointed.