Plant & Gardening Books To Not Be Without
Books are of course wonderful things, (un)fortunately there so many to choose from. The keen gardener’s selves are bowing under the weight of plant guides, plant & garden encyclopaedias, wild flower books, books on garden design and garden history. Here are a few books we think most gardeners will find very useful.
General:
E A Bowles My Garden in … Spring, Summer & Autumn and Winter Timber Press 1997-98
One of the most famous horticulturalists of his day, Edward Bowles described his garden & the plants therein in the 19teens in different seasons in these books.
Chris Brickell (Ed.) RHS A-Z Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants Dorling Kindersley 2003
Very heavy & comprehensive guide to plants for the garden & house, describes most plant you are likely to see & has pictures of many.
Chris Brickell (Ed.) RHS Encyclopaedia of Gardening Dorling Kindersley 2004
Big book to help you know how to look after all those lovely plants you bought from us.
Chris Brickell & David Joyce RHS Pruning and Training Dorling Kindersley 2003
To help you regain control of your overgrown plants look no further.
Beth Chatto The Dry Garden Orion 1998
Beth Chatto The Damp Garden Orion 1998
Beth Chatto Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden Frances Lincoln 2000
These three books describe the famous gardeners experience in three different areas of her Essex garden.
Keith Harris & Stefan Buczacki Pests, Diseases and Disorders of Garden Plants Collins 1998
Valuable for finding out just what it is that is killing your prize petunias.
Roy Lancaster Perfect Plant, Perfect Place Dorling Kindersley 2002
The book to help you answer the question what can I get that will grow there?
Roy Lancaster Plantsman in Nepal Antique Collectors’ Club 1995 Revised Ed.
Beautifully illustrated account of an expedition to that Himalayan Mecca for plant hunters.
Roy Lancaster Travels in China Antique Collectors’ Club 1989
Sub-titled ‘A Plantsman’s Paradise’ this intriguing book gives great insight into the many people, places & especially plants encountered by the author across this large & diverse land that has provided us with an incomparable number of garden plants.
Brenda McLean George Forrest Plant Hunter Antique Collectors’ Club / RBGE 2004
Laid out in the same clear & lavishly illustrated manner as the above two volumes by Roy Lancaster, it is gripping account of the life of the intrepid plant hunter & botanist. Born if Falkirk at the age of 30 in 1904 he was dispatched by E.K. Bulley (Primula bulleyana was introduced by Forrest) to the still mysterious & incredibly remote SW China to search for new botanical treasures, he was so successful that he didn’t return till 1907 & would return 5 more times before dying there in 1926, by this time he had introduce many hundred plants to cultivation, including a great many Primulas, Rhododendrons as well as many garden favourites including Gentians, Incarvillea, Lilies, Meconopsis & Iris.
Susan Page & Margaret Olds (Eds.) Botanica Random House 3rd Ed. 1999
Similar idea to the RHS A-Z Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants, also hefty & lavishly illustrated it is useful for a second opinion, it also is also written with less of a Wisley bias, being published in Australia so has better coverage of plants that one is less likely to encounter in the South East of England.
Roger Philips & Martyn Rix Pan Garden Plant Series: Annuals & Biennials, Perennials (2 Vols), Shrubs, Bulbs, Roses, Vegetables, Conservatory Plants (2 Vols) Published by Pan
Packed with excellent photos this series of books describes many of the commonest as well hundreds of rare plants
RHS Plant Finder Published annually by Dorling Kindersley
Now the standard guide to nomenclature for horticulturalists, it is a list of compiled by the RHS of which nurseries throughout the British Isles sell which plants (you’ll find us under the code GGar), so you can find where to get that obscure Aster you always wanted. An online version can be found at www.rhs.org.uk/plantfinder.asp.
William Robinson The English Flower Garden (Bloomsbury Gardening Classics) Bloomsbury 1998
William Robinson The Wild Garden Timber Press 1994
These two books could claim to be two of the most influential gardening books, when first published in the late 19th Century they caused a massive stir with his attack on the Victorian craze of bedding-out tender plants for summer display. In the first he establishes the idea of the herbaceous border, in the second the naturalistic style of gardening using hardy exotics & natives.
Timber Press publishes the ‘Gardener’s Guide to Growing…’ written by experts on particular genera they are well illustrated, comprehensive & authoritative on their particular subject & are worth getting for the gardener with an interest in a particular group of plants. Titles include: Acers, Temperate Bamboos, Cannas, Clematis, Dahlias, Fritillaries, Geraniums, Hemerocallis, Hostas, Iris, Ivies, Lilies, Non-hardy Orchids, Penstemon, Peonies and Salvias.
Alan Toogood RHS Propagating Plants Dorling Kindersley 2003
When you want more of a really good plant consult here for advice. Of course I would suggest not to bother & just come & buy a new ready-made plant from us!
Wildflowers:
Marjorie Blamey & Christopher Grey-Wilson The Illustrated Flora of Britain and Northern Europe Domino Books 1989
Lavishly illustrated & comprehensive.
Richard Fitter, et al Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe Collins 1996
Thoroughly illustrated field guide, good for taking on walks or as a guide for the natives in your garden.
W. Keeble Martin The Concise British Flora in Colour Ebury Press 1969
Well known but quite rare now, useful for finding that mysterious wildflower.
Richard Maybe Flora Britannica Sinclair Stevenson 1996
Good coffee table book full of lovely photos and the plant lore of the British Isles
William Milliken & Sam Bridgewater Flora Celtica – Plants and People in Scotland Birlinn / RBGE 2004
New publication with a similar concept to Richard Maybe’s book but with a solely Scottish scope & a decidedly ethnobotanical approach.
Clive Stace New Flora of the British Isles Cambridge University Press 2nd Ed 1997
The standard flora of the UK, invaluable for accurately identifying both native & naturalised plants. Though as with most floras it is word-heavy & full of botanical terminology, so is not the ideal quick field guide for the non-initiate.
Trees & Shrubs:
W.J. Bean Trees & Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles John Murray 8th Ed, 4 Vols + Supplement 1978-88
The Indispensable guide on hardy woody garden plants for the serious gardener.
Peter Cox The Larger Species of Rhododendron Timber Press 1990
Peter Cox The Smaller Rhododendrons Timber Press 1990
Peter Cox & Kenneth Cox The Encyclopaedia of Rhododendron Hybrids Timber Press 1988
Mr Rhododendrons guide to Rhododendrons.
Hilliers Manual of Trees & Shrubs David & Charles 5th Ed1981
Thousands of shrubs, trees, climbers & conifers are given a short succinct description
Gerd Krüssman Manual of Cultivated Conifers Tiber Press 1985
Thorough account of the 600 hundred conifer species & 2000 garden varieties, full of excellent line drawings and B&W photos. Rather out of date now in some respects due to several recent discoveries and re-classifications, such as Wollemia & Xanthocyparis, but invaluable none the less for conifer enthusiasts.
Lawrie Metcalf Hebes Timber Press 2006
Brand new thorough work on these useful, showy & variable New Zealand shrubs.
Alan Mitchell Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Europe Collins 1978
Comprehensively describes both native & the exotic trees most likely encountered in parks & gardens.
W. Arnold Forster Shrubs for the Milder Counties Alison Hodge 2000
Recently re-printed guide written at the end of WW2 in Cornwall, it is one of very few books that describes how to garden in exposed situations as well as covering many shrubs & trees we west coasters can grow.
Perennials, Bulbs, Alpines & Grasses:
John E. Bryan Bulbs Timber Press Revised Edition 2002
Weighty tome of great scope encompassing well over 1000 plants with a bulb, corm or similar storage organ, 1100 colour photos of generally high quality, the best book on this vital group of garden plants we have come across.
Frederick & Roberta Case Trilliums Timber Press 1997
Beautiful book about beautiful plants.
Rick Darke The Colour Encyclopaedia of Ornamental Grasses: Sedges, Rushes, Restios, Cat-tails and Selected Bamboos Timber Press 1999
Beautifully illustrated guide to this under used group, with chapters on design, cultivation & descriptions of hundreds of species & cultivars.
Reginald Farrer The English Rock Garden Thomas Nelson 1919
More than 80 years after it was published this is still regarded as one of the most thorough books on the subject. Though difficult to find it is worth having for Farrer’s notoriously purple prose & vehement opinions on a plants worth.
Christopher Grey-Wilson Alpine Flowers of Britain and Europe Collins 1995
Thoroughly illustrated field guide it is also very useful for the rock gardener.
Anna Griffith Collins Guide to Alpines and Rock Garden Plants Chancellor Press 1985
Useful guide to most of the commoner plants for the rock garden.
Will Ingwersen Manual of Alpine Plants Cassell Illustrated 1994
Comprehensive work by one of the fields greats
Graham Rice (ed.) RHS Encyclopedia of Perennials Dorling Kindersley 2006
New well illustrated work with plenty of newer cultivars that it is often difficult to find information, lots of little interesting snippet given throughout the book in boxes too.
Graham Stuart Thomas Perennial Garden Plants Frances Lincoln Ltd 2004
Descriptions of many larger herbaceous perennials, grasses & ferns, very good for describing flower colour & with useful list covering subjects including suitability for cutting to rabbit resistance.
Jim Jermyn The Himalayan Garden Timber Press 2001
The Plantsman’s tales of growing plants from the roof of the world in Scotland & Germany.
Yvonne Cave & Valda Paddison The Gardener’s Encyclopaedia of New Zealand Native Plants Godwit 2004
Well illustrated guide to the many garden-worthy plants from the bottom of the world.
Ron has started up a small second hand bookshop in the nursery to give customers somewhere to shelter from the rain & for bored husbands to occupy themselves while wives examine the plants.
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