- Hardcover: 448 pages
- Publisher: Timber Press; illustrated edition edition (15 Sep 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 088192492X
- ISBN-13: 978-0881924923
- Product Dimensions: 25.5 x 19.6 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,905,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #77 in Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Botany & Plant Sciences > Grasses
- #85 in Books > Home & Garden > Gardening > Plants > Flowers > Bulbs
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
In telling us what they know [Christopher] Lloyd and [Pamela] Harper cannot help also telling us what they see and what they think. This not only makes their accounts entertaining, but also reveals the inner workings of the gardener's mind, qualities that transcend the local, climatic vagaries of their respective gardens. -- Adrian Higgins "Washington Post" (09/14/2000)
Product Description
Christopher Lloyd knows perennials as well as anyone else alive. Now available in paperback, this book represents the fruit of Lloyd's lifetime study of perennials. Genus by genus, he sets down everything he has learned, thought, seen, tried, liked, or regretted about them, individually or in combination. He is formidably knowledgeable, iconoclastic, opinionated, and always entertaining. Here, meticulously recorded, are his expert opinions about numerous varieties of flowering garden plants, from Acanthus to Zigadenus, accompanied by spectacular photographs from Jonathan Buckley and others. Any gardener will find themselves opening this book time and again with pleasure and the frequent thought, "I MUST grow this one, too."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
...Christopher Lloyd's new book is full of such revelatory challenges to orthodoxy. His criticisms of plants, plant combinations, and flower colours are blunt, powerful, and unapologetically dogmatic. It is wonderful to read him describing a widely-grown euphorbia as a "miserable little weed" for example, or to find him writing off all globe thistles in a few sentences, or savaging the pink of many sidalceas: his views are a powerful, joyous combination of perspicacity and iconoclasm. This book, the product of his lifetime as a gardener and plantsman, a lifetime spent with his critical faculties constantly engaged, provides an invaluable and robust guide to the plants that are really worth one's time and effort. It reasserts the importance of colour in the garden, while also promising to save the gardener years of fruitless experimentation. It is impossible not to be affected by the persuasiveness of its views. It is surely going to be among the most influential gardening books for a generation.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Following a short but informative introduction the main body of the book is arranged alphabetically by plant genus, wherein there is a general description followed by an assessment of each species or variety
of that genus. The book concludes with a glossary and an index to plants and photographs. The book is beautifully illustrated with in excess of eighty full and half page colour photographs depicting plants singly and in stunning combination.
Unlike any other gardening "encyclopaedia" Christopher Lloyd's Garden Flowers is a personal account. Yes it is full of information about the plants, size, colour and so forth, but it is honest and forthright in its descriptions. It is typical of his work; in discussing plants he takes no prisoners, and he is not afraid to express his opinions; one might not always agree with him, but such was the stature of the man that I am sure he would not expect one to.
What can one say but to endorse the review by "A Customer". Christopher Lloyd is always a delight to read such that I am sure even a non-gardener would fine his writings pleasurable. It is his combination of informed authority, open mindedness, fearlessness, adventurousness, his passion for plants and gardening and his wit which make his writings such a joy. Christopher Lloyd was one of our greatest plantsmen and garden writers, and this is perhaps the book we've always wanted from him, how fortunate we are now to be able to enjoy it.
of that genus. The book concludes with a glossary and an index to plants and photographs. The book is beautifully illustrated with in excess of eighty full and half page colour photographs depicting plants singly and in stunning combination.
Unlike any other gardening "encyclopaedia" Christopher Lloyd's Garden Flowers is a personal account. Yes it is full of information about the plants, size, colour and so forth, but it is honest and forthright in its descriptions. It is typical of his work; in discussing plants he takes no prisoners, and he is not afraid to express his opinions; one might not always agree with him, but such was the stature of the man that I am sure he would not expect one to.
What can one say but to endorse the review by "A Customer". Christopher Lloyd is always a delight to read such that I am sure even a non-gardener would fine his writings pleasurable. It is his combination of informed authority, open mindedness, fearlessness, adventurousness, his passion for plants and gardening and his wit which make his writings such a joy. Christopher Lloyd was one of our greatest plantsmen and garden writers, and this is perhaps the book we've always wanted from him, how fortunate we are now to be able to enjoy it.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Christopher Lloyd -- organized, yet still colorful
11 April 2001
Format:Hardcover
Lloyd's normal rambling, storytelling style doesn't suffer at all from being organized into this alphabetical presentation of his favorite plants. In fact, I like him this way. Some plants get a quick brush off. Some get rich detail. Even the ones I'll never grow are fun and interesting to read about.
He includes names of favored varieties. Unlike with many "Euro-gardening" books, I have been pleased to find those varieties available by mail and even locally (from a good nursery specializing in perennials). There are exceptions. I liked the Dr. Seuss look of Helianthus Salicifolius in one of Lloyd's photos. Most sites I found by searching for it on web were in foreign languages. There's hope, however, as it's apparently known as "willow-leaved sunflower and rock sunflower" in Kansas. If it doesn't get to Ohio from Europe, maybe it will get here from Kansas.
I can't give five stars to a book that commits my pet peeve: photos, although lovely and colorful, are printed in sections. They are cleary labeled and referenced to the text and text descriptions have photo number references in the margin, where they are easy to find. It works, but I have four other books by Timberland Press, each intermixing great content with great photos. Go figure.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
The gardening book we've always wanted
10 Feb 2008
Format:Paperback
Following a short but informative introduction the main body of the book is arranged alphabetically by plant genus, wherein there is a general description followed by an assessment of each species or variety of that genus. The book concludes with a glossary and an index to plants and photographs. The book is beautifully illustrated with in excess of eighty full and half page colour photographs depicting plants singly and in stunning combination - but however fine the photographs are the stands on its writing.
Unlike any other gardening "encyclopaedia" Christopher Lloyd's Garden Flowers is a personal account. Yes it is full of information about the plants, size, colour and so forth, but it is honest and forthright in its descriptions. It is typical of his work; in discussing plants he takes no prisoners, and he is not afraid to express his opinions; one might not always agree with him, but such was the stature of the man that I am sure he would not expect one to.
This is a book full of delightful phrases and expressions, brimming with powerful observation and wit. Christopher Lloyd is always a delight to read such that I am sure even a non-gardener would fine his writings pleasurable. It is his combination of informed authority, open mindedness, fearlessness, adventurousness, his passion for plants and gardening and his wit which make his writings such a joy. Christopher Lloyd was one of our greatest plantsmen and garden writers, and this is perhaps the book we've always wanted from him, how fortunate we are now to be able to enjoy it.
Unlike any other gardening "encyclopaedia" Christopher Lloyd's Garden Flowers is a personal account. Yes it is full of information about the plants, size, colour and so forth, but it is honest and forthright in its descriptions. It is typical of his work; in discussing plants he takes no prisoners, and he is not afraid to express his opinions; one might not always agree with him, but such was the stature of the man that I am sure he would not expect one to.
This is a book full of delightful phrases and expressions, brimming with powerful observation and wit. Christopher Lloyd is always a delight to read such that I am sure even a non-gardener would fine his writings pleasurable. It is his combination of informed authority, open mindedness, fearlessness, adventurousness, his passion for plants and gardening and his wit which make his writings such a joy. Christopher Lloyd was one of our greatest plantsmen and garden writers, and this is perhaps the book we've always wanted from him, how fortunate we are now to be able to enjoy it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Wonderfully opinionated
26 Feb 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
You don't even have to be a gardener to enjoy this book; if you appreciate use of language, humor and good writing you will enjoy this book. Of course, if you are a gardener, it's a must.
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