Customer Reviews

Flora: An Illustrated History of the Garden Flower

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In the books preface, Sir Simon Hornby says that this is a book of beauty and considerable horticultural significance. I heartily agree.

Todays gardens and florist shops are filled with fascinating scents, dazzling colors, and intricate designs. Go back just a few hundred years, and the choices were limited to what grew fairly nearby. Around 1560, Europe began its push to locate the most wonderful flowers and bring them into cultivation there (either in greenhouses or outdoors). Major progress was made beginning in 1804 when The Royal Horticultural Society began systematically encouraging and recording the efforts of plant hunters. Botanists, collectors, and commercial operations scoured the globe and came back with the precursors of the many marvelous flowers we enjoy today. Selective breeding began seriously in the 19th century, and many new strains and improvements in old ones occurred since.

The Royal Horticultural Societys Lindley Library is a unique resource in this area, containing a collection of over 250,000 sources. Dr. Brent Elliott is the librarian and chief archivist for the society, and drew on its vast resources for the illustrations in this gorgeous volume.

The books primary value is to document the original appearance of the flowers when they were first collected. In most cases, this means a full color, intricate drawing of flowers, leaves, and stems. In other cases, the roots and/or bulb are also shown. You can then compare them to the varieties that you see today, and appreciate the effects of horticulture on our behalf.

For those who want to know about where and when the flowers located, this volume also provides a simple, nontechnical explanation grouped around Europe, the Turkish Empire, Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Australia.

If you are like me, the origins of many flowers are unknown. Did you know that tulips were imported from the Turkish Empire to Holland? That helps explain the Tulipmania there, which is briefly described in this book.

Some of the many flowers you will see include cacti, orchids, water lilies, fuchsias, dahlias, poppies, poinsettias, begonias, hibiscus, impatiens, hydrangeas, camellias, chrysanthemums, roses, rhododendrons, clematis, aspidistras, tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, crocuses, and lilies.

The book also has minibiographies of around 30 plant hunters and artists represented in the book.

All those who love flowers will find this book fascinating and desirable. I know lots of people who do not know the names of the flowers they like. This volume will also be a good source of identification involving the scientific names for those people, and help them to build their gardens.

Anyone who loves seeing the details of flowers will also enjoy this volume. You would need a magnifying glass in many cases to see as many details as these illustrations usually show you.

After you finish this remarkable book, imagine the opportunity we have to explore the microscopic physical characteristics of plants and their genetic instructions. What should that search look like? Where should the information be stored? What should we try to learn?

Look for the opportunities to extend beauty and knowledge . . . always!

Flora straddles the line between being an art book filled with flora pictures and a gardening title packed with details about garden flowers. Both audiences will welcome this lavish presentation but it's the artist who will have a rare opportunity to appreciate the detail and color of floral designs. Full-color, oversized pages of floral art are gorgeous presentations.

My order just came and was I disappointed. The book is beautiful yet the size is absurd. Measures 5 3/8 by 6 1/4 inches. This is not stated anywhere in the book desription. I just assumed it would be the standard 8 1/2 by 11 inches. I KNEW it wasn't the coffee table size but this size is just not suitable for this type of book. I will be returning it.

This is one of the best flower books I have ever seen! Richly illustrated, with many details, and glorious color! I am a painter, so these are very important for an illustrated book. A must have for all flower lovers!

This book is filled with beautifully coloured illustrations which accurately reflect the different stages in a plant's life cycle. Definitely a book to have on your bookshelf - or on the coffee table!

This book is beauty and knowledge. An absolut treasure!

I ordered this book and returned it due to the extremely ridiculous small size. It is about the size of a CD. I had read this book in the library at the full size and the small size ("Compact edition") doesn't even compare. If you really want this book, get the full size. Otherwise it isn't worth it.