The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers (American Horticultural Society Practical Guides)
This lushly illustrated and exhaustive gardening reference, an update to the 1989 original, is sure to gratify greenthumbs all around the U.S.: comprising three main sections (the plant selector, the plant catalogue and the plant dictionary), it's an excellent resource for anyone looking to fashion a beautiful and environmentally sustainable garden. The plant selector points gardeners toward flora appropriate to their environmental or aesthetic needs (e.g., plants that do well in sandy or alkaline soil, make good windbreaks or have aromatic leaves), while the plant catalogue, organized into sections by type (perennials, shrubs, bulbs, water plants) and boasting thousands of photographs, delves into greater detail about the characteristics of individual species. Each section is helpfully organized by seasons of "interest" and plant size or color: the yellow asphodel is a medium yellow perennial that looks its best in spring, for instance, while Gentiana septemfida is a large blue rock plant whose best months are autumnal. The dictionary lists more than 8,000 plants, from abelia to creeping zinnia. For the garden enthusiast, this volume will likely prove as indispensable as a good trowel.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.