encyclopedias

This book is absolutely wonderful with all the quick information you would ever need for plants in North America. It does cover propogation, cultivation, and common pest for a particular plant very well, and the color pictures are superb. The common names for plants found in your stores are are easily found by doing a cross reference at the back of the book. It's not at all difficult to find what you are looking for. Ofcourse, you cannot expect to find every single hybrid names that are being churned out everyday covered in here 'cause thats not practical. I found that pretty much all the plants i reasearched for with names from hardware stores and nurseries were covered in here. You do need the sister book for identifying and controlling pests and diseases. Nevertheless, this is a superb book for a resource and the best out there yet. It's worth the weight! Get the sister book for pests and diseases and you'll be all set!

This enormous reference book is exactly what an avid gardener needs - with entries covering perennials, annuals, woodland plants, trees, shrubs, and just about any other plants available both commercially and naturally. The individual entries contain information about cultivars, propagation, problem pests and diseases, as well as a concise description of the plant's appearance and growth requirements. Most, though not all, include a small photograph of at least one specimen. Plants are listed by their botanical names; if you do not know the genus, you'll have to look up the common name first in the index.

This volume also contains a visual glossary (inside the front cover), and excellent sections on general botany, the garden environment, and propagation techniques. The only drawback to this otherwise excellent encyclopedia is the near-impossibility of identifying unknown plants. The entries are not listed (or cross-listed) by type, requiring the gardener to page through nearly one thousand pages of pictures to identify, say, a particular woodland plant. And forget leaf identification since most photographs are taken from a distance to capture the whole of a species.

This would make an excellent gift for any gardener. It is hefty and comprehensive. Especially for those interested in non-mainstream plants, this book is a must-have.

The variety of plants contained in this volume is comparatively remarkable and I have successfully found information on quite a few things.

That said, the descriptions and other details on the varieties within the genera are uneven and illustrations used are often too small for identification, particularly if the foliage is not shown in the cases of flowers which appear nearly-identical.

Some varieties of plants such as calabrichoa (million bells) which are very popular, at least in my own area, are not there; some which are included, such as bacopa, only mention two colors when there are several in circulation.

These sticking points are relatively minor compared to my principal and ongoing complaint about nearly every plant book I have read or purchased: there is no pronunciation guide. This is a huge handicap when one is attempting to ask for, or for information about, plants such as Heuchera, Weigela, Clematis, Corydalis and a multitude of others with multiple possibilities.

It makes no sense that such an obviously huge undertaking as the compilation of this book could not include how the name should be said in the heading (not some section in the back which would require constant turning).