Not a bad book to have on your shelf. Just not the best. Why? The book is divided into sections which are excellent for themes - seaside/damp/windy gardens. And there's some potted reviews of some of the main types of plants - alpines, shrubs etc. All this is very good, but you don't feel like you've seen the whole picture of possibilities with this book. My greatest gripe however is the index - it's rubbish. There are articles and references to many plants in the actual book that are not catalogued in the index - very frustrating - makes the book much harder to use than it should be.