The American Horticultural Society A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants

by Christopher Brickell, H. Marc Cathey

With over 15,000 entries and updated from the original "A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants"Qwhich sold over 190,000 copiesQthis is undoubtedly the most complete and authoritative garden plant guide ever published. Includes hundreds of new plants and photos. 0-7566-0616-0$80.00 / DK Publishing, Inc.

Genres: Gardening, Reference, Nonfiction, Horticulture, Plants, Nature, How To

1104 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Patricia]

This book ROCKS. It's well organized, easy to read, and has myriad pictures to illustrate nearly every plant within. This was recommended by a local nursery consultant, and is by far the most useful garden book I own.

[Meghan]

Indispensable reference manual for gardeners everywhere. Fantastic pictures and information. If I could only buy one gardening reference book, this would be it. I work at a garden center and this is the book we use 90% of the time to answer customer questions.

[Justin]

Geared towards landscaping. Not much information on fruits/veggies

[Taryn Renée]

I borrowed this fatty from the public library over a decade ago when I started dabbling a bit in container gardening. At that time I was a remorseful black thumb, with a desperate attraction to plants. The hobby didn't last long at that time, because I had moved into a small space with little light and my gardening was temporarily thwarted. At the time I had read the book, I read it in chunks, which is the only way to read books like these. I would leaf through until drawn by a stunning photo, or cross reference items to understand their meaning or context. I have no doubt, though, that I read the entire thing eventually. I stayed up late reading it as if it were a novel. It sparked my imagination, and I would spend hours daydreaming about garden possibilities. Recently I started gardening again. Somehow enough knowledge from my first encounter with this book managed to stay with me. Things like the names of plants, their preferred soil or climate conditions, or how or when to propagate plants will appear in my brain and stun me with it's presence. The effect is to cause me to "appear" like an intuitive green thumb. I'm really not-- I just retained so much of this book inadvertently! I have been missing the book though. I found it yesterday at a half price books and bought it, of course. I am re-reading it, in the same piecemeal style, with the same dreamy sense of wonder.

[Lunnaku]

Has a lot of neat little details about a ton of different plants, tons of beautiful pictures. I wish it had more details about each plant and I didn't like that it was geared more towards landscapers.

[Toni]

This book took me through three Perennial classes at the (USDA) Graduate School. While I did not read every entry in it's 1095 pages (including index), I did read many of them and all of the Intro, Forward, and Glossary of Terms. This book is an education in its self. It is full of valuable information on almost any plant you can imagine and includes details on the correct lighting, soil, water and fertilization requirements for each. It is beautifully enhanced with full color photographs. This is not a book for the weekend gardener.

[David Ward]

The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants by Christopher Brickell (DK Publishing Inc 2004) (623.903) is a massive volume. I don't believe that the editors omitted any garden plant. This is a very thorough reference guide. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 5/20/12.

[Julie]

everyone should have a copy of this for reference

[Paul]

Comprehensive but that may be a negative. Also getting a little dated. Needs a complete update on species and Cultivars - but still the best heavy book around

[Sandra]

Battered and well-used. What could be more of an endorsement?

[Chelsea]

This is a must for gardeners.. its THE standby reference.

[Jamie]

Yet Alas, Another Fabulous Gardening Tool!!

[Shad]

Essential.