Customer Reviews

The Hillier Gardener's Guide to Trees and Shrubs

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Every connoisseur of ornamental trees & shrubs will love this book. Containing more than 3,000 crisp, very detailed color photos, including the most awesome Cedar of Lebanon photo one can imagine, it is the single best illustrated encyclopedia on the subject of woody ornamentals. Although it is based on ornamental plants that can grow in the United Kingdom, and therefore incomplete for the U.S. gardener (ex., Lagerstroemia (Crapemyrtle) was not included), it more than makes up for these few omissions in rich horticultural detail. Beginning with some basics (glossary of terms, U.S. and Canadian climate zone maps, basic biology of trees & shrubs, etc.), it quickly moves to topics of greater interest to the common gardening enthusiast, such as selection, care & maintenance, propagation, and pests & diseases of woody ornamentals. In the Plant Directory, the Latin and Common names of each plant are listed, followed by a detailed description of its character, its geographic derivation, the date that it was introduced into the nursery trade, the northern extreme of the U.S. and Canadian hardiness zone that it will live in unprotected, and whether or not it has received the Award of Garden Merit (AGM), given by the Royal Horticultural Society to recognize plants of outstanding excellence for garden use. A sample entry in the Plant Directory is "Prunus Sargentii (Sargent Cherry) Considered by many people to be the lovelist cherry, this is a round-headed, small deciduous tree with chestnut brown bark and bronze-red young foliage. The single pink flowers open in early spring, and the small, almost black fruits ripen in midsummer. It is one of the first trees to color in fall, when its leaves turn orange and crimson. Japan, Korea. Introduced 1890. Zone 4 U.S., 5b Can. AGM". The Plant Selector is of great value to the gardener, containing detailed listings of plants and trees for various soil types and growing conditions, plants of pendulous and upright habit, plants with ornamental bark, bold foliage, good Fall color, ornamental fruits, fragrant flowers and foliage, and flowering plants with typical time of flowering, just to name a few. In short, if you could only have one book on Ornamental Trees & Shrubs in your library, this should be the one.

There is a pocket version of this magnificent book, but I can't imagine not wanting the real thing. This is a book lovingly written by members of the renowned Hillier Arboretum. The book can be considered an excellent reference for all woody plants, not only trees and shrubs. Many vines are included as well as woody perennials and herbs.

The design is easy to use, laid out in order by genus, and includes many good color photos. All the major chapters include culture tips and information not easily found elsewhere. With more and more cultivars available each year, this work does not strive to be all-inclusive, but instead will stand the test of time as a guide to the real backbones of the garden: the trees, shrubs, vines, and woody perennials. This is a book for the beginner eager to learn more but will also capture the fascination of the more seasoned gardener. I continually reach for it when coming across an unfamiliar name, or enjoy perusing it after a trip the arboretum.

Simply put, I love this book! Its listings are extensive, and I can usually find the specific cultivar that I am looking for. The pictures are a good balance between close-up detail shots and distance shots that show the overall structure of the plant. The information is quite detailed and often includes such tidbits as, "This cultivar is beautiful, but quite susceptable to fireblight...". My one complaint is that they don't give estimates on the eventual size of the trees/shrubs. They do tend to clasify them as small/ medium/ or large, however they don't give a definition as to what size ranges these catagories correspond to. Other than that, however, I have no complaints what-so-ever, except for lack of funds to by all of the fantastic specimins I fall in love with in this book!

It's a "must have", but only if the price is right. Excellent pics, covers many cultivars, favors English plants grown on his property.