Customer Reviews

The Explorer's Garden: Rare and Unusual Perennials

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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A well researched, well thought out guide to some wonderful plants that, to quote the author's witty prose, should be on a good many gardener's 'lust list'. Good photography, HONEST descriptions of the plant (without 'catalog-ese') and cultural information all add to a fine addition to the hort books out there.

This is an excellent book. Dan Hinkley is a funny and engaging writer and speaker. I highly recommend this for the gardener who appreciates subtle yet beautiful flowers and foliage. Many of the plants that he discusses are from Asia where he has travelled extensively. The book is a great companion to the thick Heronswood Nursery catalog and web site since it has a number of photos. Dan discusses care and propagation of the plants as well.

This book does what it aims to very well: it describes (and includes photos of) some very unusual plants. However, please be aware that many of these plants do not have mass appeal; that is why, after all, they are still rare and unusual, rather than having been picked up by your local garden centers.

I found myself using this book mostly as a specific adjunct to the Heronswood Nursery catalogue, looking up some photos and cultural information for a few of the plants listed in the catalogue. If this is YOUR intended use, please be aware that you may be able to get this information for a lot less money by just using Heronswood's website, now that it is expanded to include a good variety of plant photos.

Following the foreword by another plant explorer Roy Lancaster, Dan Hinkley write about a number of plants through 28 chapters, the book also includes a list mail-order sources for plants in various parts of the world, a glossary, bibliography and a comprehensive index.

The plants discussed, or more appropriately "discovered" include: the Rununculids; climbing Aconites; Actaea, Bessia and Cimicifuga; Hepatica; Thalictrum; Berberidaceous; Corydalis; woodland Poppies; Rheums; Cardamine, Pachyphragma and Wasabia; Triosteum; Aralias; Umbellifers; Cardiandra, Mukdenia and Kirengeshoma; Saxifrages; Rodgersia ad Darmera; Gunnera; Lathyrus; hardy Geraniums; Mandragora and Scopolia; Omphalodes and Myosotidium; Syneilesis and Ainsliaca; Asarumm and Saruma; Arisaema and Pinella; Solomon's Seals; Cardiocrinum; Helonias and Heloniopsis; Paris, Trillidium and Scopliopus. (Hope I've spelt them all correctly!).

Around 200 plants are illustrated in colour photographs throughout the book, mostly half-page in size. In the extensive accompanying text Hinkley writes with enthusiasm and from personal experience, this is not second-hand information but a gardener and explorer writing with passion about what he loves adn ahving seen these plants in the natural habitat. The chapters usually follow the same patters: a general dicussion of the genus including growing them, followed by descriptions of a number of the species and concluding with notes on Hardiness, Cultivation and Propagation.

This is a fascinating book that is bound to introduce the reader to many new and desirable plants. The photographs are very good, showing the plants clearly without glamorising them. There are few if any plants here that are garden prima-donnas, but there are many plants that have a refined quality and air of distinction that makes them very appealing and garden worthy. I would be very surprised if and true gardener did not come away from this book with a list of must have plants to add to their garden.