Gardener's Latin: A Lexicon [Hardcover]

Bill Neal (Author), Barbara Damrosch (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992

A gardener's guide to Latin provides green thumbs with the expertise they need to wade through the technical terms they may encounter in the nursery or in mail-order catalogs. By the author of Bill Neal's Southern Cooking.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Botanical Latin either intrigues or intimidates. To the rescue, whatever your bias, is Bill Neal's nifty little volume." -- The New York Times Book Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; 1st edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945575947
• ISBN-13: 978-0945575948
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #565,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for any Gardener!, August 24, 2000

By 

"anotherthyme" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gardener's Latin: A Lexicon (Hardcover)

I teach gardening classes with titles such as "Seed Catalogs are Seductive" and "Saving Seeds" and have recommended this book to my students. It is fun, and informative. Let's face it, you can't get far with gardening for fun, hobby or business if you don't learn some latin. Gardener's Latin makes it easy and explains all those things you've been wondering about. This is a fresh and enjoyable book and I think one that will be enjoyed by most gardeners. Add it to your wish list - the weeding season will soon be over and the reading season will begin.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neat companion in the garden, November 28, 2003

By 

merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gardener's Latin: A Lexicon (Paperback)

When I got into gardening and especially with planting with native plants I started to pay a lot of attention to the latin names - but I didn't really understand what they meant. Hanging out with an older, very wise friend and his wife, we got talking about ceratin plants and they were rattling off the latin names and their meanings. It was amazing and so poetic that I wanted to learn more so I found this book. Its really been a great asset. Its set up alphabetically by latin name, and for each word, its less of a definition, more of a translation, e.g. palliflavens = pale yellow, squamosus = full of scales. Its a neat book - not as poetic in the translations as I had hoped but interesting nonetheless.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Botanical Pleasure, February 13, 2004

By 

Anita Clevenger (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gardener's Latin: A Lexicon (Hardcover)

For lovers of plants, language, and beautiful books, this is a perfect book. The translation of botanical latin is helpful to anyone interested in the origin of plant names. The sketches, marginal notes and quotations, layout and size of the book make it a pleasure to use. The task of memorizing hundreds of plant names, which is my burden as a horticulture student, is enjoyable because I have this little book as my interpreter and companion. I've convinced all of my gardening friends to buy this book.