1 comments about Reliable Roses.

1. An outstanding new reference for rose growers because Harkness, a member of the highly regarded rose growing family in England, helps us understand how great, easy-to-grow roses distinguish themselves from their more troublesome, but still lovely, fellow-travelers.
   
   Only 75 roses made the cut for this book, which is not a very wide scope. This narrows considerably for gardeners like me who contend with truly frigid winters and shorter growing seasons. But the depth! Each rose receives the full Harkness treatment for flower properties (color; shape and size; scent; production), plant properties (shape and size; position; hardiness), foliage properties (color; health check; garden uses), a rating in each overall area of flower properties, plant properties, and foliage properties, and an overall assessment and rating. Harkness provides a framework and 75 examples of how to evaluate a rose, which is tremendously useful for those of us who have space to grow only a few beauties. The detailed directory of roses combined with sensible and lucid explanations of rose-growing make the book ideal for beginners or rose-phobics.
   
   Some haughty rosarians might consider themselves beyond the information presented here. More's the pity for them because the photographs -- all full color and many full page -- are remarkable for their clarity, detail, and loveliness. I hope I am never sufficiently expert at rose growing to pass up such a beautiful book.

No comments about Bonsai (Wisley).

No comments about Shrubs for Bloom and Beauty.

2 comments about Botanica's 100 Best Flowering Shrubs for Your Garden.

1. Flowering shrubs can bring color, variety, and beauty to any garden, large of small, complex or simple. Profusely enhanced with color photography, Botanica's 100 Best Flowering Shrubs For Your Garden describes one hundred of the most popular flowering shrubs readily available to today's gardener, along with information on their botanical and common names, preparation, planing, hardiness zones, and care. An ideal addition to any gardening or landscaper reference shelf, Botanica's 100 Best Flowering Shrubs For Your Garden is further buttressed with a informative introduction, zone maps, and a useful index.



2. I bought this book to get ideas on shrubs, and it has a lot of choices, but it lacks the best choices for evergreens like Lorapetalum & Nandina (Heavenly Bamboo). A southern shrub planting must have plants like these that provide evergreen fullness and color! More importantly it lacks clarity --- it just rambles on from one page to the next with no page breaks from one shrub to the next, and the main info you need to know about a shrub is either hard to find or non-existant. I recommend buying Taylor's 50 Best Shrubs for anyone, beginner or pro, and forget this one.

No comments about Rowan.

No comments about The trees and shrubs of Yellowstone National Park: A scientific and popular description of all the trees and shrubs with special reference to their economic ... their relations to wild life ; illustrated.

No comments about Best Evergreen Trees and Shrubs ("Amateur Gardening" Guide).

No comments about Seed Manual for Ornamental Trees and Shrubs (Bulletin).

No comments about What flowering tree is that?: A handbook for the tropics.

No comments about Growing Citrus Trees (Lothian Gardening Guide).