Customer Reviews

Botanica: The Illustrated A-Z of Over 10,000 Garden Plants and How to Cultivate Them

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although this is a useful reference, the publisher has chosen not to include a CD-ROM, as in previous versions. The CD-ROM was what set this reference apart. The integration of a physical text plus computer speed access to information was great. I do not believe the book alone is worth the price.

I purchased this book at Christmas for myself and a friend.I have found it to be my best reference guide to date. The CD is untouchable to any other CD reference I've seen. I recently went back to college to study landscape design. My first classes are on trees and shrubs along with annuals and perennials. I took my book to class everyone was thrilled. They wanted to buy one.. But $59.99 not including the cd. This is redicules. You may want to rethink you price. By the way your handle idea is great but you need to find another way to seal the book. It gets all ripped when you try to open. Still and excellant reference guide... I'm happy I bought it at the time I did. You may want to watch out you may be pricing yourselfs out of the ball park!

I wish I had found Botanica before buying dozens of other plant ID references - it would have saved me 100s of $ and hours of research to find everything in one volume. Every horticultural plant of worthy is covered with complete profile and excellent color photos. I don't know how they can supply so much book for so little money. Such a bargain!

This book is excellent! It covers almost very plant you can think of - and many more! It covers everything you need to know before you consider buying, planting...

My friends always want to borrow this, so I have 2 copies. That way I am sure that I will never be without it.

This is a great single source book! If you can only buy one- THIS IS IT!

I got this book a couple of days ago and the first thing I noticed were the gret pictures and descriptions of thousands of plants. On second inspection I noticed the Zone that many of the plants I grow (in zone 3) are listed as zone 6? who chose the zones? did they just guess. I buy plants from all over and many of the plants listed in this book are great, but I can't tell if they will grow for me when most of the zones listed are wrong.

Working in a small plant nursery, we depend on this book for everything it seems. Many of our customers are new to the area and know only common names for what they're looking for. We've used this book extensively to find these plants. In fact, we've used it so much that this is the second copy we're ordering, having worn out the first! No garden center or gardener should be without this incredible book.

I'm a garden designer and couldn't do without it. Every garden centre I know also has a copy. The Zone guides have always been exactly right based on my experience. Highly recommended.
(I also own and use our local edition of the AHS Encyclopedia which Amazon sell but it is slightly older so doesn't have as many new varieties - still a great book)

Botanica is a beautifully and profusely illustrated 1020-page compendium of more than ten thousand plants, with complete, "user friendly" instructions on how to cultivate them. Laid out alphabetically, this A to Z anthology is a virtual showcase of color photography and is a pure pleasure to simply browse through, in addition to being an indispensable planning guide (there is an exhaustive index) for the family gardener or commercial horticulturalist. In addition to being very highly recommended for individual and academic gardening reference collections, Botanica would also make an impressive Memorial Fund selection for community libraries.

This is a 1,000+ page dictionary of plants ranging from the quite common to the more unusual. After an explanation as to How This Book Works and a few pages of general introduction which includes a Hardiness Zone Map and a brief discussion of the Major Plant Groups comes the main Dictionary. The book includes An Explanation of Plant Names, a Glossary, A Table of Plant Families and Related Genera and and Index of Common Names and Synonyms.

In the Dictionary each genus has a brief introduction including cultivation notes, followed by the species or cultivars, each described in detail along with the hardiness rating. The book is profusely illustrated in colour, it would appear that every plant is shown, and while many of the pictures are quite small the standard of photography is excellent.

The book claims to list 10,000 garden plants - I haven't counted them. It includes plants from all over the world and from all climates, so many of them will need heated greenhouse or conservatory cultivation in the UK, however the photographs invariably show them growing in their natural habitat.

If you are interested in cultivating the traditional English garden there is plenty here of interest, but you may find it a little frustrating to find that you cannot grow a lot of the plants described. However if you are more adventuresome, want to push the boundaries of hardiness in your garden, or try something more exotic in your conservatory, you will find many plants to tempt you.

Whatever your interest though the sheer quantity of illustrations make this a fascinating book to browse in addition to being a very useful reference source.

Botanica is one of my favorite reference books, it's got great pictures and so many unusual plants. I also own the American Horticultural Society's A-Z Encyclopedia, but I never use it. Botanica is written in clear, common English, gets me excited about the plants, and gives me an intuitive feel for the plants. A-Z is a dry, scholarly compendium and an excellent doorstop.

One problem with Botanica is the binding. It's been through many different publishers, but every well-used copy I see is held together with strapping tape.

I find the zone recommendations dead on, but maybe that's because one of the editors lives in my town. But don't worry, I've only met him once and he had had no influence on this review.