Botany for Gardeners [Paperback]

"A book such as this should be in every workshop, potting shed and mess room." -- The American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta Newsletter

"Capon’s writing is interesting and engaging. He makes botany sound as interesting as it really is." -- Stanley Rice, Department of Biology, Academic Library Book Review

"Those who enjoy and are fascinated by plants and gardening, would enjoy them even more with the help of this book." -- Northeastern Naturalist

"With its many color photographs, its discursive style, and its comprehensive glossary, Botany for Gardeners is a joy to read." -- HORTIDEAS

"Written for those who would like to do more than simply 'get by' with intuitive knowledge about plants." -- Northeastern Naturalist --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Botany for Gardeners: An Introduction and Guide Brian Capon

A clear, nontechnical explanation of how plants work. It succeeds in explaining the complex processes of plant growth, functions, adaptation, responses, and reproduction in simple language. As the author intended, the gardener can come to understand plants "from the plant's point of view." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Despite their obvious love of plants, many gardeners have not taken the logical step of learning more about them through the study of botany, perhaps due to experience with an intimidating college textbook. The author has provided the perfect introduction with this book written in accessible language specifically for gardeners and horticulturists. As the author says of gardeners: "They know how to grow them [plants] but don't know how they grow. They learn to prune a tree to make it branch but don't know why it responds to the surgery. They know that they must provide water and fertilizers but have no idea of what happens to water and minerals once they are inside a plant...This book is intended to give new meaning to many gardening practices by looking at them from the plant's point of view." The entire breadth of botanical science is surveyed: the structure, function, and evolution of plants, how plants are constructed from cells and how they grow, responses to environments and adaptations, the process of photosynthesis, and plant reproduction and genetics. All of these topics are treated in highly readable fashion, with excellent color photographs and line drawings serving to illustrate clearly points made in the text. The reader is introduced painlessly to the technical terms of botany. The understanding to be gained from this fascinating survey is sure to increase the gardener's pleasure and satisfaction in working with plants. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Brian Capon, a professor of botany, is a specialist in plant physiology. He also wrote Plant Survival, Adapting to a Hostile World. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.