Customer Reviews

American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is not only very useful, informative and educational; it is absolutely beautiful. Color photographs, elegant paper and a logical lay - out make this a pleasure to use. This tome is so well done that it is being used as a text book for some college level courses.

This is one of the most complete reference books for the serious horticulturalist and yet, it is very readable for the amateur gardener.
I volunteer at a Botanical garden's gardening hotline and this is one of our favourite "go to" reference books. It is out of print and hard to find but worth the search for a second hand copy. It should go along with Michael Dirr's Manual of Woody Plants on the refernce shelf.

...So I get home, make my dinner, and camp out in my favorite easy chair for my nightly dinner read. Unfortunately, this book was soooo heavy, I couldn't balance it very well. It was uncomfortable on my lap (and the print was too small to read from there), but holding it up was a chore. I actually sprained my wrist trying to find a comfortable way to read this book!

What I did manage to see during that first viewing was impressive....It's still a bit like not knowing how to spell a word, but trying to look it up in the dictionary. Unless you have some idea of what you might be dealing with, you may not find the right article.

On the plus side, there are many, many pictures, not just one for a whole family of plants. Few varieties don't have a decent illistration. And the descriptions are very concice. If you're not sure what a term means, it's easy to find a definition.

Now if I could just find a way to read this book without hurting my wrist! They should have really broken this encyclopedia into multiple volumes -- volumes that would be easier to hold while reading...All in all, ...I'd still have to say this is a great value, and an essential book for anybody interested in more than marigolds and roses...

Yeah it's big and shiny but it averages about 70% of what I'm looking for so I give it a "4". I also wish that it had picts or at least full descriptions of every item it DOES list. I have yet to find anything better.

The book sounded exciting with the large number of plants described by other customers. I do like DK's large amount of pictures. The book did contain a large section on roses. BUT this might not be what you are looking for. If you want a book to help you choose say a type of apple tree to grow in your backyard, this book will not help. Sunset Western Gardern Book offers detailed descriptions of each specific varities of popular fruits: taste, tree growth, disease resistance,etc. Peaches,apples,grapes,blueberries,cherries,etc.

This book has just about every plant you can imagine but it has its drawbacks because of it. It is extremely heavy and you must know the scientific name of a plant or look in the index for the common name to find it in the book. I guess I was hoping for a little more "user friendly" book. It has lots of pics and might be great for the more experienced gardener.

I agree that many species and cultivars are listed, but (and this is very important to gardeners in the "Zombie Zones", i.e., the lower midwest (zones 5 and 6)), there is no specific information about pest and disease resistance. The reference may state that resistant cultivars are available, but does not note which ones they are. This is a real problem. I also found lacking important information regarding plants that might technically be hardy in a given zone but do not tolerate abrupt temperature or moisture changes, and so forth. Also, invasive plants are included but not noted for the tendency, nor for which regions of the country. Neither are native species well-delineated. This is a very British-oriented sort of book, which may be sufficient for the old-fashioned, but for the gardener who admires our regional North American landscapes and is considerate of our native species, this book is of limited use.

I agree that many species and cultivars are listed, but (and this is very important to gardeners in the "Zombie Zones", i.e., the lower midwest (zones 5 and 6)), there is no specific information about pest and disease resistance. The reference may state that resistant cultivars are available, but does not note which ones they are. This is a real problem. I also found lacking important information regarding plants that might technically be hardy in a given zone but do not tolerate abrupt temperature or moisture changes, and so forth. Also, invasive plants are included but not noted for the tendency, nor for which regions of the country. Neither are native species well-delineated. This is a very British-oriented sort of book, which may be sufficient for the old-fashioned, but for the gardener who admires our regional North American landscapes and is considerate of our native species, this book is of limited use.

I agree that many species and cultivars are listed, but (and this is very important to gardeners in the "Zombie Zones", i.e., the lower midwest (zones 5 and 6)), there is no specific information about pest and disease resistance. The reference may state that resistant cultivars are available, but does not note which ones they are. This is a real problem. I also found lacking important information regarding plants that might technically be hardy in a given zone but do not tolerate abrupt temperature or moisture changes, and so forth. Also, invasive plants are included but not noted for the tendency, nor for which regions of the country. Neither are native species well-delineated. This is a very British-oriented sort of book, which may be sufficient for the old-fashioned, but for the gardener who admires our regional North American landscapes and is considerate of our native species, this book is of limited use.

I agree that many species and cultivars are listed, but (and this is very important to gardeners in the "Zombie Zones", i.e., the lower midwest (zones 5 and 6)), there is no specific information about pest and disease resistance. The reference may state that resistant cultivars are available, but does not note which ones they are. This is a real problem. I also found lacking important information regarding plants that might technically be hardy in a given zone but do not tolerate abrupt temperature or moisture changes, and so forth. Also, invasive plants are included but not noted for the tendency, nor for which regions of the country. Neither are native species well-delineated. This is a very British-oriented sort of book, which may be sufficient for the old-fashioned, but for the gardener who admires our regional North American landscapes and is considerate of our native species, this book is of limited use.