About the Book
This major two-volume reference work covers over 1,000 genera in outstanding colour photographs and authoritative, detailed text. Bridging the gap between scientific texts and everyday horticultural books, this guide provides an unrivalled insight into the relationships between garden plants and their environments, the history of plant development (as studied through fossils), and the most up-to-date DNA studies, set to revolutionise classification. It will become an indispensable aid to any aspiring gardener. Volume I: Trees, Shrubs and Climbers covers over 450 genera of woody plants listed in botanical order. It starts with descendants of the Jurassic - tree ferns, ginko, conifers, through the earliest flowering plants,, on to catkin-bearing and fruit trees, ending with maples and other advanced flowering plants. The distinctive cordyline, palm, and bamboo families are treated separately.
Table of Contents:
Chapter - 1: DICKSONIACEAE Section - i: Tree ferns Chapter - 2: GYMNOSPERMAE Section - ii: Gingko, Larch, Cedar, Pine, Yew and Cycas Chapter - 3: ANGIOSPERMAE Section - iii: Magnolia, Bay and Calycanthus Section - iv: Berberies, Mahonia, Clematis, and Romneya Section - v: Liquidamber, Corylopsis, and Witch Hazel Section - vi: Beech, Oak, Hazel, Birch, and Walnut Section - vii: Box, Willow and Hibiscus Section - viii: Elm, Mulberry, and Fig Section - ix: Camellia, Rhododendron, and Heather Section - x: Hydrangea, Rose, Apple, and Cherry Section - xi: Acacia, Wisteria, and Broom Section - xii: Elaegnus, Myrtle, ad Eucalyptus Section - xiii: Nyssa, Davidia, and Dogwood Section - xiv: Ceanothus, Buckeye, Maple, and Choisya Section - xv: Kalopanax, Ivy, and Bupleurum Section - xvi: Oleander, Solanum, and Desfontainia Section - xvii: Lavender, Ash, Jasmine and Buddleja Section - xviii: Honeysuckle, Viburnum, and Olearia Chapter - 4: MONOCOTYLEDONES Section - xix: Palm, Cordyline, and Bamboo Chapter - 5: GLOSSARY Chapter - 6: BIBLIOGRAPHY Index - 7: INDEX
About the Author :
Roger Phillips was an award-winning photographer with a reputation spanning nearly fifty years. In 1975, he began his life's major work of cateloguing the world's garden plants, setting out to develop an encyclopedic collection of books to show the difference between plants as diverse as mosses, roses and annuals.
Roger consistently pioneered the use of colour photography for the reliable identification of natural history subjects, and wrote more than forty works dedicated to this purpose, including Vegetables; Mushrooms; Wild Food; Trees; and the seminal Wild Flowers: of Britain and Ireland, which sold almost half a million copies in its first year alone, and has gone on to become the bible for anthophiles across the Isles.
Roger wrote and presented two major six-part TV series on gardening for the BBC and Channel 4. Famed for his ebullient personality and trademark red glasses, he was a well-recognised figure in the world of gardening, and he received an MBE for his work on London’s garden squares. He died in November 2021.
Martyn Rix is a leading botanist, plant collector, gardener, independent botanical advisor and writer. He and award-winning photographer Roger Phillips have collaborated on over twenty-five books such as Vegetables.
Review :
The ultimate Christmas gift for garden lovers, this is as valuable an addition to a gardener's library as the RHS Guide to Garden Plants. Published in two volumes, they are divided into trees and shrubs and perennials and annuals, ordered to reflect new developments in DNA identification and classification. "A photographic record of the genera of trees and shrubs/herbaceous plants of interest to the gardener" is an understatement. It is a visual feast of garden plants, gloriously illustrated with the pioneering botanical-drawing style photographs of Roger Phillips. The accompanying text by Martyn Rix is of the standard expected by someone so highly regarded in the horticultural world and holder of a Gold Veitch Memorial medal from the Royal Horticultural Society. He gives descriptions, key recognition features, ecology and geography and a personal comment for each genus making this a comprehensive guide to today's horticultural offerings. The author's partnership of nearly 30 years has resulted in a work totally in tune with and complemented by each other: a work of beauty and botanical fact combined making this an important new definitive work on the subject of garden plants. - Lucy Watson
