RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants

Collecting contributions from 100 distinguished horticulturists, the handsome and lavishly illustrated Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants is a truly definitive gardening reference. With its 1,092 tiny-print pages, this may not be the book to tuck into your pocket as you weed and mulch, but what this encyclopedia lacks in portability, it certainly makes up for in scope. Hardy and tender plants, heirloom varieties and the latest hybrids--they're all accounted for here, with growing tips and background information about native habitats and ornamental features. You'll also find a fascinating section about botany, as well as information about basic gardening techniques such as mulching, staking, pruning, propagating and protecting plants for winter. But the encyclopedia's main attraction is the individual plant entries--more than 15,000 of them, embellished with 6,000 full-colour photographs and illustrations. From the visual glossary of leaves to the map of growing regions, the Royal Horticultural Society A-Z of Garden Plants provides an unsurpassed wealth of botanical information, making it the yardstick by which all other gardening references must be measured.

View other editions of RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants.
View books by Christopher Brickell.

RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants - Rated
I have an older edition of this book (1996 version), which is in one volume and is very bulky/heavy so I was delighted to see that the newer edition has been split into 2 volumes. Working in the Landscape design industry, I have found this book to be a valuable reference source since leaving college and the book has stood up to daily use in the office from myself and my colleagues for the past six years! The alphabetical listing (I'm presuming the new edition is the same) is very useful because you don't have to go to an index first. It gives a huge amount of information about each species and even a description of many variants and cultivars. It is the perfect compliment to other books that divide the species into plant use e.g. plants best for shade etc. and I would highly recommend it.

Best book I ever bought at a good price! - Rated
I am not much of a writer but I am honest and I bought this book to use as a reference to identify plants that appeared in Latin on a wholesale plant list,as my knowledge is limited to a few I can identify myself.
The book turned out to be two excellent volumes housed in their own folder/binder and were very heavy and well made with the original high price label still showing.When the post arrived delivering these I thought I had made an error and ordered too many they are so big.The illustrations are in full colour photo format with easy to understand information to suit novice and professional alike and I was so impressed I have bought my Dad one for his Birthday and one for my neighbour as she was so impressed with it.

Excellent Investment - Rated
I got sick of being a cook, so I've started an RHS General Certificate and letterboxing local Swiss as a garden maintenence service provider. I needed a comprehensive book covering the full range of plants I might encounter and this one's got them all! It begins by proceeding through the various ornamental plant groups (grasses, aquatic etc.), which is a bonus if you have no idea what you are looking for, because the initial groupings use many of the genus names which then allow you to attack what initially looks like an overwhelming book. It cost a fortune in Swiss francs but worth every penny. I suspect this book will be with me for life.

A Brirish horticultural extravaganza - Rated
Since established in 1804, the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) has been at the forefront of all things horticultural. Indeed, it represents all things British - the Empire travels, collects, and stores... And the benefits are immense to gardeners!

This volume is dear, but valuable. There is a two-volume edition, which makes it easier to refer to. Otherwise, the binding breaks, or your back, trying to browse too frequently...

This volume is probably the only publication of its kind, and presents a formidable achievement. However, a thumbed-index-type version would be more useful, while an accent on native plants, rather than an infinite greenhouse tropics bias, should prove handy.

An excellent handbook on ornamental plants - Rated
The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants is a heavy packet of information about 15.000 garden plant taxa - species, subspecies, varieties and cultivars. Ca. 6000 colour photographs are included, so there is a photo of more than one third of the taxa, which makes this book stand out from the majority of other garden handbooks. The appearance and layout of the book attract to leaf through it, and the lucidity of the text makes reading a pleasure.

The first 47 pages (pp. 8-54) contain a botanical and horticultural introduction, short and compact, with ample illustration. The first section of this introduction explains the terms, abbreviations and symbols used in the book. The main part of the text is used to give information and practical hints for cultivation. Items such as hardiness of the plants, garden environment, cultivation outdoors, care under glass, pruning, propagation, pests, and diseases and other disorders are shortly covered. Ornamental plant groups are handled in 23 pages, clearly and informatively.

The actual contents of the book are the descriptions of the taxa. They are arranged alphabetically according to their Latin names. This is a practical choice, which makes it easy to find a plant with a known name. Of course, systematic order would have made it possible to identify unknown plants more easily by leafing the book and comparing them to their possible relatives. This is a matter of taste, and probably most non-botanists are satisfied with the solution. The most common synonyms are given (in small print), with a reference to the accepted name. Under each genus, there is a short account of the amount of the species, their distribution, description of the main characters, information about their flowering and use in the garden. Practical advise on cultivation are included either here or under the species and cultivar descriptions. Hardiness of the plants and advice on propagation, and pruning of trees and bushes are given. Possible pests and diseases are shortly listed. The species and cultivars are again listed in alphabetical order under the genera. The assortment is mainly exhaustive, though one must remember that there are many popular garden plant genera with thousands of cultivars, and it is impossible to fully cover this kind of abundance. The length of the descriptions varies, but usually it covers the most important features a gardener is interested in. They include also the hardiness of the individual taxa, and the minimum temperatures for frost tender plants. Photographs are mainly technically excellent and though they are rather small, the reader is given a good idea of how each plant looks like. Some trees and bushes are hard to identify from the pictures - they would have demanded illustration of both habit and details.

Almost the only thing that bothers me with this book is that it includes an overwhelming assortment of exotic taxa - at least exotic from my point of view, but lacks several species that are rather commonly cultivated in my own home area. Many of the genera are tropical or subtropical, and though the greenhouse effect would warm up our climate sometimes in the future, we have no possibility here in the northern corner of the EU to cultivate them (though, many of them are actually known as indoor plants). On the other hand, this makes the book very useful as a reference book to a very wide range of cultivated plants, both domestic and foreign. In all, I can warmly recommend the Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants to everybody with an interest in ornamental plants!