Trees for All Seasons: Broadleaved Evergreens for Temperate Climates

by Sean Hogan

It's simple: broadleaved evergreens are trees that don't lose their leaves. And despite their versatility and beauty, they are often underused. Why? Most people, including knowledgeable gardeners, equate evergreens with conifers—and Christmas trees— rather than broadleaved plants. And many of the most attractive broadleaved evergreens have only recently become commercially available. Sean Hogan—one of America's most respected and well-known horticulturists—aims to correct the problem with this groundbreaking title. Ten years of research has gone into the detailed descriptions and photographs of more than 300 choice trees. Hogan opens our eyes to a largely unexplored world of foliar beauty—from China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan to Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand; from Chile and Argentina to Mexico and the western United States. Among the profiled plants are the drought-tolerant, russetbarked manzanitas; the finely textured, glossy-leaved azaras; and the exquisitely fragrant michelias. Also included are little-known gems from such well-known genera as the hollies and oaks. Hogan has filled an obvious gap in horticultural literature. By bringing to light hundreds of exciting plants that have the potential to transform gardens, he also performs an outstanding service.

Genres: Gardening

336 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2008

About the author

Sean B. Hogan started in the nursery industry at the age of 3, rooting boxwood cuttings and succulents in the sandbox of his Portland, Oregon boyhood home. His family later moved to Sacramento where he pursued his education at American River College and Sacramento State in the areas of horticulture and botany. Early work included mapping rare and endangered plants, mostly Cactaceae and Portulacaceae, for the State of California as well as landscape and design work, often revolving around his love of western natives.

From the mid-80s to the mid-90s, Hogan served as the curator of the South African, New Zealand, Australian, New World Desert and the California Native Cultivar Gardens of the University of California, Berkeley, Botanic Garden. In 1995, he and his partner, University of California Davis Arboretum Botanist Parker Sanderson, returned to Hogan's native Portland to start a design and consultation firm specializing in regionally appropriate plants for the Pacific Northwest. This work eventually evolved into their opening of Cistus Nursery, located on Sauvie Island in the Columbia River outside Portland, widely held to be among best of the west coast retail-micronurseries.

Hogan has lectured extensively in North American and Europe, often about his explorations of South America, South Africa and the western regions of the United States and northern Mexico. His writing and photos can be found in an extremely wide range of horticultural and botanical literature and magazines. He edited the 20,000 plus entry Flora, published by Timber Press in October 2003 and published Trees for All Seasons with Timber Press in 2008.

Reviews

[Steven Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I finished this book nearly a year ago I still go over it, several times a week actually, memorizing the details. The book enlightened me to so many species, subspecies, varieties, & cultivars, even certain genus I had previously not known. To Americans & most Westerners the majority of these trees were not known to us before the book was made. It is incredible to learn of the trees who come from a mainly tropical genus but are so cold hardy they can grow in my much-harsher Ohio climate. The result has been me spending many hours trying to locate online sources for these wonderful trees that brighten the dark days of Winter. It's so inspiring to look upon a still-beautifully green holly or magnolia, but this book reveals there are so many more that can be planted right alongside them....what a wonderful forest it could then be!

Evergreen members of the Beech/Oak/Chestnut family seem very promising & I'm looking forward to planting many on my land. Many more species of magnolias are out there I wish to try & grow. The Star Anise genus, Illicium, also offers much potential. The Eucalyptus genus too offers exciting plants I had not known existed before this book. The Witch Hazel family has beautiful species that seem far more exotic than most tropicals we know so well. Why grow a beautiful, but common, tender-to-frost mango tree when you could grow the mysterious & magnificent tough Exbucklandia? The hardiest representatives of the Cinnamon genus & Avocado genus, many members of the Laurel family, are now priorities for me to find & grow. The majority of the trees in the book are so hardy that with good placement in the landscape & a minor level of annual Winter protection during youth especially I believe are potentially hardy for me in Ohio!

This book has been printed before its time. It is groundbreaking, stating the facts found out of the research & luck of both experienced nurserymen & seasoned botanical gardens. I wish so much that these trees were more common, perhaps in 10 years. It is exciting though, to be among to first to learn what the rest of us have yet to know. For that reason this book becomes all the more valuable. I am now a little more educated of what exists, now I'll know a tree worth its weight in gold when I see it listed on a nursery's website. This is perhaps the most important book I own among my gardening books. I have two copies & as though that weren't enough, I would like to buy more. The book touched a nerve with me to pursue my very own beautiful cold-hardy broadleaf-evergreen paradise.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive with all details necessary to make a decision. Encyclopedia format, so the only way to start with something narrowed down, such as "small trees," is a few categories in the index. Even so, then the trees are listed merely by name or page with no details. So you pretty much have to page through the entire book, skimming and marking with stick-on tabs. It would be great to have an online version searchable with optional filters.