Customer Reviews

Perennial Garden Plants: Or the Modern Florilegium

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'Perennial Garden Plants' by Graham Stuart Thomas is a classic gardening reference book. Reknowned for his lyrical prose and encyclopedic knowledge, the now deceased Graham Stuart Thomas was one of the world's great gardening giants and this fact is clearly demonstrated in his treatise on perennials.

'Perennial Garden Plants' is an amazingly through listing of perennial plants by genus, providing each one with concise plant statistics (i.e. height & spread, hardyness, bloom time, etc) followed by a short description of the plant species along with his wonderfully overbearing thoughts to the beauty and uses of the plant. Furthermore, some plant entries are enriched by quotes from other gardening legends such as Gertrude Jekyll, William Robinson and others, adding yet more opinions on the delights (and distress) of certain perennial plants. To the serious gardener, having G. S. Thomas' opinion on his favorite perennial plants is alone worth purchasing this book.

However, it is worth mentioning that 'Perennial Garden Plants' is not the best gardening book on the market. Last revised in 1990, some of the cultivar entries are out of date, the meager selection of photos are dated and not really useful, and better, more through books have appeared on the market (most notably Allan M. Armitage's 'Herbaceous Perennial Plants').

If G. S. Thomas was alive and well to expand and update this book with new plant entries and more (and better) color photos, I would give it 5 stars. As it stands, though, I find this book to be useful mainly as a cross-reference with other texts that are more current. Nevertheless, I still cherish the delightful taste of G. S. Thomas' opinion on perennial garden plants as evidenced in this book to be invaluable.

Written by someone who really knows his plants, this book contains a wealth of information, all the more so because often the plant descriptions include the personal comments from the author as to the plants' garden worthiness.

It is well presented and the basics about each plant such as size, flower colour, flowering period and more are clearly set out, along with occasionally any special merits indicated by the relevant symbol. Also sometimes included are quotes from other notable gardeners. The introductory chapters on cultivation, plant hardiness and more make interesting reading, and the book includes grasses and ferns listed separately. Also included are various lists such as suggestions for other garden books, nurserymen and more.

This may not be the best illustrated book, but the book is not about pictures, it is about informed comment, at at that it succeeds 100%. It is always one of the first books I turn to for information on and assessments of perennial plants.