The Botanical Garden, Vol. 2 : Perennials and Annuals: Perennials and Annuals Vol 2 [Hardcover]

This is a pretty nice book. Of course it is always a relief to find a work without the ubiquitous hardiness maps and gardening advice. This handsomely printed volume in full color is a pleasure to browse through. Finally an arrangement of trees and shrubs that makes some sense, instead of the haphazard (read alphabetical) arrangement encountered so often. Although the authors wisely avoid the trap of involving themselves in the morass of common names they definitely miss a trick by not giving the etymology of the botanical names. It is quite odd to see a laurel-like picture of Daphniphyllum and not be able to read that "daphne" is the Greek word for "laurel" with "phyllus" the Greek for "leaf"

Of course trees and shrubs is too big a topic to fit within the covers of a single volume and it is not surprising to notice that the authors occasionally drop the ball and make quite silly errors. Obviously it would be too much to expect anybody to be fully informed on the whole range of plants covered.

Perhaps the most noticeable thing missing from this work is light. Quite a lot of the trees and shrubs included here have dark green foliage and in the pictures not much detail can be made out. A bit more light in photography would have made quite a difference.

All in all this is a book that will look good on the bookshelf and will be appreciated by anybody who is fond of trees and shrubs and is not afraid to look beyond the confines of the own garden.

This is a two-volume set. Although Amazon does not make this obvious, you can see in the color photos of the covers (above) that there is a "Volume I, Trees and Shrubs" and a "Volume II: Perennials and Annuals." Volume I weighs about five pounds; Volume II, a little more. I mention the weigh to impress upon the reader the impact that these books will have on your library. These are weighty volumes in more ways than one.

They are lavishly illustrated with several full-colors photos artfully arranged on each heavy, glossy page (over a thousand altogether in the two volumes) showing the flowers, leaves, fruit, seeds, catkins, etc. of the plants. The photos are identified by date of the year taken: the leaves 1/3 life size of Lindera megaphylla, for example, on May 5th, the flowers 2x life size on March 8th, and so on for hundreds of different species. The presentation is not exhaustive of course, but plants from all the major genera are represented, taking into account the "classical arrangement" and the new evidence from DNA in the classifications. Note well the overall title of this two-volume set: "The Botanical Garden." These are books for gardeners who have become amateur botanists, for weekend naturalists who have outgrown their field guides. The plants described and pictured include the giant Sequoias and redwoods as well as the ephemeral weeds of the roadside, not just plants that one might want to grow in a garden or even a city park.

The text is sprightly, terse and scientifically informed. The family of the genera is given and the number of species known and where they grow, e.g., "...in western North America and eastern Asia." The plants are described, e.g., "fast growing...to 30m...," the bark and the leaves are described, how pollination is achieved is explained. (It is interesting to note that sometimes the qualification "presumed by insects" is used, pointing to the incompleteness of our knowledge.) "Key recognition features" are given, as are notes on evolution, ecology and geography. Finally there is a "Comment" which may give the historical, cultural or scientific significance of the plants.

There are two minor weaknesses in the books: (1) the common names of the plants, e.g., "strawberry tree" (Arbutus unedo) are sometimes given and sometimes not. Additionally, when--as is often the case--there are several common names, only one or two are given; (2) there are no photos of the entire plant showing its crown and shape. Speaking of the strawberry tree, the authors remark that "The name unedo means, 'I eat one,' because the fruit is so insipid that nobody is tempted to eat a second." However I recently collected a few of the exquisitely beautiful fruits of Arbutus unedo and found out that the fruit itself is not insipid; in fact it is rather tasty, like a kind of peach or apricot jam; but unfortunately is covered, as though spray-painted on, with a thick and bitter, very red outer coating--I cannot call it a skin--that is almost impossible to separate from the fruit within. And so only someone very, very hungry would go to the trouble of eating more than one.

The emphasis is on identification and beauty, and on the accuracy of nomenclature. Yes, beauty. Above all else I would say this set celebrates the timeless beauty of the botanical world. Of all the books I have seen on plants this is at once the most beautiful and the most helpful in terms of identification. These are volumes to turn to when you come home with the field guide in your hand.

There is a nearly identical glossary in both volumes, a short bibliography and individual indices. It is important to note that this is not a reprint of some venerable opus, but a completely new compilation copyright 2002. As such it is authoritative in a way that some older books may not be.