1 comments about The Gardener's Practical Guide to Annuals, Bulbs and Perennials: An illustrated encyclopedia of flowering plants containing over 1500 beautiful colour ... catalogues (Gardeners Practical Guide to).

1. This book is not only eye appealing, but well organized, and very explanatory.

4 comments about Lilies: A Guide for Growers and Collectors.

1. LILIES A guide for growers and collectors An authoritative guide with extensive information on propagation and hybridisation.Features species lilies and current hybrids. Written by Edward Austin McRae of Oregon Bulb Farms fame. Not too `heavy', very readable and very concise, I thoroughly enjoyed it! ISBN 0 88192-410-5 $34.95 / Timber Press



2. This book is an incredible resource for those wishing to try their hand at lily hybridization. A word of warning though, it really is not written for the layperson. While you do not have to have a Ph.d. in botany to understand the contents, those with a fair amount of horticultural experience will benefit the most. The book is clearly and concisely written, and is also organized nicely. The photos are beautiful and the line drawings are very helpful. It is the most in-depth discussion of lilies I have ever encountered, written by one of the world's experts in the field. I hope others will enjoy it as much as I have.



3. This guide answers almost all questions one can develop on this beautiful plants. From a basic introduction into the genus along propagation and cultivation up to a comprehensive taxonomic guide on species (almost complete) and hybrids and finally professional topics as exhibitions, hybridizing and commercial production, this book covers it all. And what I liked most: though it has more than 100 pictures, it doesn't suffer of the "coffee-table"-syndrome (large, non-detailed pictures) as so many plant books regrettably do.

   Absolutely recommended. It's an exceptional work and it will last long for you to reach a point where this book can't be of use anymore.




4. This guide answers almost all questions one can develop on this beautiful plants. From a basic introduction into the genus along propagation and cultivation up to a comprehensive taxonomic guide on species (almost complete) and hybrids and finally professional topics as exhibitions, hybridizing and commercial production, this book covers it all. And what I liked most: though it has more than 100 pictures, it doesn't suffer of the "coffee-table"-syndrome (large, non-detailed pictures) as so many plant books regrettably do.

   Absolutely recommended. It's an exceptional work and it will last long for you to reach a point where this book can't be of use anymore.

1 comments about Lilies.

1. This new "coffee table" book is stunningly BEAUTIFUL. Whether you are an admirer of lilies, of flowers in general, of nature photography, of great design, and/or of beauty, this book will surely please your finer sensibilities. The photography is magnificent ... tight close-ups ... the tightest close-up revealing pollen both scattered and in a clump. The lilies are, by nature, beautiful in themselves. But this book presents them to you in a way that makes them compelling and unforgettable.

1 comments about Spring Bulbs: Daffodils, Tulips and Hyacinths.

1. There are lots of books on spring bulbs with glorious photos of tulips and daffodils, but finally here is a book that treats hyacinths as something other than a brief afterthought. If you thought hyacinths come only in light pink, white, or blue prepare to be amazed. There are soft orange, almost black purple, yellow, lilac, and wine hyacinths. Most are single flowers but some have frilly double florets. Chapter 6 (20 pages) is nothing but hyacinths--photos of florets from different cultivars in side by side comparison, descriptions of over 100 species and cultivars, and history and cultivation tips. For those with an interest in old Victorian varieties, Geoff Stebbings gives the introduction date, the introducer and even the parents where known. He does the same excellent job for daffodils and tulips in other chapters, but there are other books that cover them. However, if like me you have been enchanted by the sweet smell of hyanciths and want to know more, this is the book to get.

No comments about Agapanthus: A Revision of the Genus.

No comments about Fuchsias (DK Garden Guides).

No comments about Indoor Potted Bulb.

3 comments about The Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs.

1. The flora of South Africa is a stunning example of bio-diversity in the world. Due to a large variety of habitats many plant families have developed a wide range of species, a lot of them endemic to this region. While botanical enthusiasts worldwide focus on succulent and caudiciform plants the unbelievably rich geophytic flora of the Cape (including the orchids) is not fully discovered for cultivation yet.

   The Color Encylopedia of Cape Bulbs is a wonderful approach to overcome this situation. The authors present essential information about everything concerning this topic. Their book provides a general survey of the physical and biological features of the habitats. The topics cultivation and gardening are included as well. The information given is concise and precise and a very helpful background for botanists and cultivators, too. A glossary, a key to the species, a table of synonyms and a suppliers list at the end of the book finish the bulk of basic information.

   The encyclopedic part of the book offers detailed descriptions of a wide range of bulbous plants of different monocot families. It is built up following an alphabetical order of the genera which allows to quickly find a species without expert knowledge about botanical taxonomy. Specified information about habitat and cultivation is given in the genus description.The species descriptions include all necessary items and are accompanied by wonderful photographs of many of these impressingly beautiful plants. It is astonishing to see what a variety of different looking species some genera have produced, for instance Gladiolus and Moraea from the Iridaceae family.

   In summary, I highly recommend this book for botanists, for travellers to the Cape region with botanical interests and for gardeners as well. When I opened the encyclopedia for the first time I was fascinated for hours. The species descriptions and pictures alone are worth the prize of this book, in my opinion! Along with Karsten Wodrich's books about the South African orchids, the Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs gives an impression of the geophytic plant treasures this region offers to all enthusiasts. And, last but not least, these books are an indispensable help to successfully cultivate them.




2. An excellent reference book on cape bulbs. A wealth of photo's and information. Aspects of the book are on the technical side for a layman. But worth having.Highly recomended.



3. As an amateur grower of Cape Bulbs I can say that this book has brought me more joy than any other on my book shelves. The 500 pages are crammed with detailed text on every bulb found in the Cape region right up to the Sundays River and the quality of the color photography is outstanding. Of course anyone who recognises the three authors names will not be surprised at the quality of this publication.
   
   Each genus is given an overview and then all the species falling into the region is detailed, usually with a photograph. That is a total of 1 200 species - about 75% of them unique to the region!

5 comments about Hemerocallis: The Daylily.

1. Although this book concentrates heavily on cultivars introduced by Mr. Munson, it is an excellent book. It contains beautiful pictures, discuses how to breed, cultivate and grow daylilies and makes a great coffeetable book. A pleasure to pick up, look at and browse through time after time. Great winter reading for those in the North who long to garden year round.



2. This book is a valuable reference for someone who is just starting to set up their own cross-pollenination program. Thanks to this book I can proceed with my dream of my own line of cultivars.



3. If you love daylilys you will enjoy this book and if you are just getting interested in daylilys then you will really learn some valid info. Mr. Munson was one of the best hybridizers in the business. As an owner of a retail daylily business, I use this as a reference when ordering plants or just to refer to for some valid information,



4. Book is a good reference with many daylily descriptions and color photos.



5. Written by an experienced and respected name in Daylily culture, this is not surprisingly a most informative publication. It covers the Species of Daylilies as well as the cultivars, tracing their history from the early 1900s through to today and on into the future.
   
   The largest section of the book considers "Some Worthy Daylilies of Today and Tomorrow"; an illustrated catalogue of modern cultivars listed according to colour. There are also chapters on Hybridising, Landscaping with Daylilies, Horticultural Requirements and Judging the Daylily among others.
   
   Over 200 colour photographs illustrate mostly individual cultivars but also their use in landscaping. It is a well produced book; however its general page layout is rather pedestrian and not particularly inspiring.
   
   The book does concentrate on Munson's own introductions, and it seems that a large proportion of the cultivars illustrated are his. But with this book now nearly twenty years old, and with hundreds of new cultivars registered each year, the 900 or so included here are inevitably only a small proportion of the total.
   
   At the time of its publication in 1989, when I first obtained a copy of Munson's monograph, it seemed almost the last word Daylily literature; while still a valuable book it now looks dated, especially alongside the more recent "Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies" by Petit and Peat.

5 comments about The Tulip.

1. I could not finish this book, and I thought it would be right up my alley. It was a sort of a mix of anecdotes and history. Personally I could have done without the anecdotes.



2. Ms.Pavord certainly does love her tulips - the narrative is strewn with latin names for every variety of tulip.
   Originally from the middle-east and very different to most other flowers, the discovery of strange multi-coloured hybrids that appeared spontaneously kept nurserymen occupied for years looking for the perfect specimen. This led to an outrageous inflation in the price, people selling their homes to buy one bulb!

   Written in a style that fails to hold one's attention, there is perhaps a tad more botanical detail than is necessary for the layman, but when one considers that this is the second book - a corollary to a scholarly exercise - on tulips, it is surprising that so little jargon is used.
   Very informative though lacking in story-telling. ***.




3. `The Tulip' by Anna Pavord is a much different sort of book than the now famous `The Orchid Thief' written by `New Yorker' writer Susan Orlean and the basis of the movie starring Nicholas Cage, Meryl Streep, and Chris Cooper.
   
   Ms. Pavord is a much more conventional writer on things horticultural, although this is certainly not a conventional horticultural book. The subtitle, `The Story of A Flower That Has Made Men Mad' begins to give a sense of the historical importance of the tulip which began as a wild flower native ranging from Asia Minor (modern Turkey) to Persia (modern Iran) and domesticated under the Ottoman sultans who ruled this part of the world in the mid-15th century.
   
   The tulip mania reached heights which are hard to believe today and I'm hard pressed to think of anything comparable in the modern world unless it is the income of professional sportsmen such as Tiger Woods and Andre Agassi who receive astronomical compensations for lending their names to commercial products purely on the basis of a skill at something which for almost everyone else on the planet is a recreation.
   
   I make this comparison because as a tulip grower myself, I find this simply nothing more than a decoration, no more nor less valuable than our dahlias, marigolds, and chrysanthemums. This book makes clear the fact that from 1560 to 1750, the tulip became much, much more than a pretty decoration for spring gardens and dining room floral arrangements.
   
   One thing I can appreciate is the novelty of this lovely flower to the rather dour shores of France, Germany, England, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia in the 16th century. Not only was this flower colorful, even before modern breeders got a hold of it and created an almost endless series of hybrids, but it had an almost magical property of having unusually colored mutants arise from bulbs of monochrome flowers. Ordinary tulip bulbs became unusually pricy in this 200 year period; however, these `sport' bulbs which did not carry over to seeds given off by these plants were sold for astronomical prices, sometimes even as high as the price of a house of the time (in the late 19th century, the cause of this mutation was discovered to be caused by a virus).
   
   While the author does not offer a lot of theorizing on the subject, it seems that Europe was as interested in decorative plants acquired in this age of Exploration as they were with the new foodstuffs coming from the new world. And, while the Dutch were adept horticulturists, so that they had the skills to grow the tulip as well or better than the French or the English, they were also the leading mercantile power in Europe and Asia (leaving the New World to the Spanish) in this period. This means they had the means to bring back to Holland a wide variety of tulips and other bulb flowers.
   
   After the tulip's financial bubble burst, it's popularity was sustained by countless garden clubs in northern Europe, especially in England, leading to the explosion we see today in tulip hybridization surpassed, I suspect by only the business in rose hybrids.
   
   As histories of science and technology go, this may not be quite as thrilling as the history of quantum physics or astrophysics or even mathematics, but it is a great tale of where the intersection of novelty and human folly can take us.



4. I read this book for a non-fiction book club. It was selected based on reviews. This was quite simply the most boring book I have ever tried to read. As stated by others, there was absolutely no story line. It should be listed as a horticulture book so that those of us looking for a story line are not dupped into paying $15 for a book that in my opinion never should have been published.



5. I found this book frustrating to read...it is a collection of interesting historical anecdotes strung together like an assembly of mis-sorted beads. Each one of them might stand alone as an essay but the author seems to be lacking the craft or will to force them together into an entertaining narrative.
   
   My experience trying to read this was like being dragged to the opera--at first I was seduced by the pageantry and vivid colors, but eventually I grew bored and wished it would end. Read one chapter of this book and you may like it, but it takes real will and focus to make it to the end.