This book is an absolute essential if you are just learning about gardening but want to do more than just buy all your plants fully grown from a nursery. As well as being beautifully laid out and easy to navigate through it is incredibly comprehensive. Each plant is described briefly, followed by in depth descriptions of the main forms of propogation which can be used to increase stock, gathering seed, taking cuttings, grafting and so on. Earlier chapters cover basic botany required to understand how plants grow and also describe the various techniques in detail. All of this is beautifully and very helpfully illustrated with photographs of the steps involved. Buy two copies because someone is sure to 'borrow' yours.