Customer Reviews

Taylor's Guide to Perennials

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent, encyclopedic reference guide, whether you are trying to identify existing plantings or add perennials to your garden. There is a section with lots of backround gardening information; soil preparation, feeding, watering and etc. The really useful part is the plant guide.

There is a long section with color photographs of hundreds of flowering perennials. This is followed by a comprehensive descriptive guide to the plants, arranged alphabetically by Latin family name. A general description is followed by specific growing tips and varietal descriptions. All the photographs and descriptions are cross-referenced by page number so it is easy to go from a picture to a description or vice-versa. A comprehensive index further adds to the book's ease of use.

If you are dreaming of, or caring for, a perennial garden, this book is indispensable. As it points out, there are tens of thousands of perennials, most of which are not specifically addressed, but basic traits and cultivation methods are shared by thousands of varieties within each genus. This book will guide you to a successful planting plan for your climate.

A good book for the casual or beginning gardener. It covers most of the more common garden perennials in North America, and is well-illustrated with at least one color photo for each genus. Even the experienced gardener will find it valuable for basic information about a broad range of genera. Treatment of species and cultivars is rather cursory, although many of the commonest or most widely available ones are covered. The small size of the book makes it easy to refer to and carry around. The only drawback is that the color photos are all in the front of the book, so you have to keep flipping between the photos and text to match up the plant descriptions with their pictures.

This book was exactly what I needed. Never seem to know the name of the
flower, and the beautiful photos are invaluable. Very helpful to know what plants work in this time zone, and there are many helpful tips for planting and feeding. A permanent reference in my home.

Ran across this while browsing in our local bookstore. Not a technical book, but who cares when you're having fun. The photos are fabulous, about 400 of them; not drawings, but photos. Some wildflowers too: bloodroot, cardinal flower, trillium, wild columbine, etc. I found I had about 50 of the 400 shown, and the pictures convinced me I wanted more.

It didn't bother me a bit that the photos were grouped together. In fact, in identifying my own plants, it helped. I haven't bothered much so far with the book's text portion. And I discovered through the book that it "ain't just annuals" that give color and texture to a garden.

George Shenk's book on growing gardens in shade is still one of the best books out there for shade gardening, as far as I am concerned, but TAYLOR'S 50 BEST PERENNIALS FOR SHADE is also very useful. Besides, the Taylor book includes plenty of colorful photographs.
If you're like me and you plant hundreds of tulips every year, in areas that will be plunged into shade when your neighbor's trees leaf out, you probably have discovered the value of "over-planting" perennial flowers (annuals generally require lot's of sun). Taylor's book explains how you go about planting covers for your bulbs, as they go dormant, by adding shade loving plants that will naturalize and hide the dying bulb foliage and thus hide the bulbs neatly until the following spring. (You should be amending the area with bulb food to ensure next year's bloom).
I have a particularly troublesome side yard, under a neighbor's Persian Walnut tree, where I have over-planted Solomon's Seal, Astilbe, and Creeping Woodruff (each one is pictured and described in this book) along with various bulbs and shade loving bushes such as Nandina and Skimmia, and I can testify that over-planting works well. Next year, I am going to try Tiarella Cordifolia (Foamflower) under the Foster Holly at the back of my yard. Taylor's book suggests about a dozen companion plants that will grow with the foam-flower including Bleeding Hearts which I love, and which are beautiful with white tulips.

The inside pages were fine, cover may have been bent a bit in shipping. Overall, it's fine.

Book was shipped when promised and was exactly as described, so no surprises. I would buy from this source again.