Product Description

The sophisticated gardener is forever in search of distinctive new plants not commonly found in gardens. For these legions of enthusiasts, Dan Hinkley's Heronswood Nursery near Seattle has become something of a mail-order mecca in recent years. This book describes and illustrates the most interesting and garden-worthy perennials that the author has encountered in his many travels around the world hunting plants in the wild. The Explorers Garden offers the reader a truly unique combination of experience and exuberance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #898211 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 380 pages

Amazon.com Review
If, like so many other gardeners the world over, you're enamored of Dan Hinkley's Heronswood Nursery catalog, you'll love the Explorer's Garden. Heronswood is a wildly successful nursery in Kingston, Washington, that offers many of the most beautiful and unusual plants available anywhere. My guess is that once The Explorer's Garden is read through for pleasure, it will be used over and over again as a supplement to the catalog, as it thoroughly describes the plants Hinkley offers at Heronswood, and offers information on how best to grow them.

The Explorer's Garden is part sheer adventure, part the story of Hinkley's intense love and appreciation for the flora of Planet Earth. While fascinating for the botanist with its tales of plants growing in their native habitats at the far corners of the world, The Explorer's Garden also satisfies the gardener by emphasizing which plants are most garden-worthy. Out of the many masterworts (Astrantia) now available, Hinkley tells us that the cultivar known as "Margery Fish" or "Shaggy" is one of the best of the lot. He sorts through the virtues of the many hardy geraniums, distinguishing G. sylvaticum "Amy Doncaster" for its deep-blue upturned flowers with white eyes; he calls G. phaeum exceptional for its striking, purple-blotched foliage. This is just the kind of information gardeners need to know. We may grow plants better by understanding from whence they hail, but it is experienced guidance in choosing amongst the hosts of available plants that keeps us reading, notepad to hand.

And if you think that this book will help you to fill up your garden with the best perennials, just remember that Hinkley has two more books to follow in The Explorer's Garden series. So leave some room, on your bookshelf and in your garden, for trees and shrubs. --Valerie Easton

From Booklist
Hinkley, an exhilarating garden writer, is also a modern-day plant explorer who frequently treks to remote realms in pursuit of plant species to grow, propagate, and introduce to the world of gardening. At his Heronswood Nursery outside Seattle (a mecca attracting keen gardeners from near and far), the private gardens and lushly landscaped display gardens allow visitors firsthand encounters with a surprising array of praiseworthy plants growing in breathtaking splendor. Now in his own inimitable style, Hinkley sets pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as the case may be) to discuss the merits of a wide range of garden-worthy perennials. Graced by the author's formidable knowledge of botany, the book promises to satisfy the most demanding tendencies of today's gardeners with remarkably evocative portraits of rare and wonderful species, accompanied by glorious color photographs. Tackling the topic at hand with unequaled capability, Hinkley offers detailed cultivation advice on a vast number of alluring specimens to thrill and delight the fancies of garden lovers. Alice Joyce

Review
"Reading the book is like taking a plant hunting trip with Hinkley." Pat Rubin, Sacramento Bee, March 26, 2005 (Pat Rubin Sacramento Bee )

"This is just the kind of information we need to know ... It is experienced guidance in choosing amongst the hosts of available plants."—Valerie Easton, Pacific Horticulture, Winter 2000 (Valerie Easton Pacific Horticulture )

"[Dan Hinkley's] depth of knowledge, breadth of humor, and exuberant love for all things green — or, for that matter, variegated — translate well to the printed page, making this intriguing and informative new volume a must-have for anyone who wants to know more about unusual garden plants."—Steve Silk, Fine Gardening, November/December 2000 (Steve Silk Fine Gardening )

...Hinkley has written a delightful and very informative book. Many beautifully printed color photographs are an additional, powerful attraction for the reader. Highly recommended for any librarys horticultural section. -- Choice, February 2000

His prose melts like butter, his wit is outrageous, his knowledge is inviting and accessible. Hinkley writes about plants with passion and humility, transforming hard earned data into pure delight. -- Ketzel Levine, Public Radios 'Doyenne of Dirt'

Oh, the places youll go and the plants you will meet! In this wonderful book on rare and unusual perennial Daniel Hinkley takes his readers on fascinating journeys of plant exploration and discovery. Beyond the finding of a plant--in the wild or as a cultivar--Hinkley shares what he has learned about the plants, how they grow in their native haunts, how they grow in cultivation, and what special qualities the plants possess to delight the eye and enrich the garden... Is The Explorers Garden one of the best books on perennials ever written? You bet it is. -- Carl Hahn, The American Gardener, February 2000

Reading the book is like taking a plant hunting trip with Hinkley. Pat Rubin, Sacramento Bee, March 26, 2005 (Sacramento Bee )

The infectious enthusiasm of teacher, nurseryman and plant explorer Dan Hinkley has inspired many students and made him a key figure in Americas gardening renaissance. His writing style scholarly, lyrical, and witty, anchored by practicality, is well known to fans of his annual book-sized Heronswood nursery catalogue. Few gardening books are based on such extensive and attentive observation of plants, in gardens and in the wild, and none convey greater joy in the beauty of our universe, and awe at its diversity. -- Pamela Harper, author and photographer

This is just the kind of information we need to know ... It is experienced guidance in choosing amongst the hosts of available plants.Valerie Easton, Pacific Horticulture, Winter 2000 (Pacific Horticulture )

[Dan Hinkley's] depth of knowledge, breadth of humor, and exuberant love for all things green or, for that matter, variegated translate well to the printed page, making this intriguing and informative new volume a must-have for anyone who wants to know more about unusual garden plants.Steve Silk, Fine Gardening, November/December 2000 (Fine Gardening )

…praised for its beautiful photographs, passionate writing style, and authoritative horticultural information. -- 2000 AHS Award Books, The American Gardener, May/June 2000

Customer Reviews

What a Fine Book!
A well researched, well thought out guide to some wonderful plants that, to quote the author's witty prose, should be on a good many gardener's 'lust list'. Good photography, HONEST descriptions of the plant (without 'catalog-ese') and cultural information all add to a fine addition to the hort books out there.

informative and a great companion to the Heronswood catalog
This is an excellent book. Dan Hinkley is a funny and engaging writer and speaker. I highly recommend this for the gardener who appreciates subtle yet beautiful flowers and foliage. Many of the plants that he discusses are from Asia where he has travelled extensively. The book is a great companion to the thick Heronswood Nursery catalog and web site since it has a number of photos. Dan discusses care and propagation of the plants as well.

The Explorer's Garden: Rare and Unusual Perennials
This book does what it aims to very well: it describes (and includes photos of) some very unusual plants. However, please be aware that many of these plants do not have mass appeal; that is why, after all, they are still rare and unusual, rather than having been picked up by your local garden centers.

I found myself using this book mostly as a specific adjunct to the Heronswood Nursery catalogue, looking up some photos and cultural information for a few of the plants listed in the catalogue. If this is YOUR intended use, please be aware that you may be able to get this information for a lot less money by just using Heronswood's website, now that it is expanded to include a good variety of plant photos.