Re: Books

has
> anyone out there read
> "An Encyclopedia of Shade Perennials" by W. George
> Schmid?
> 
> What did you think of it?
> 
> Chris


An Encyclopedia of Shade Perennials by W. George
Schmid was just published by Timber Press. It includes
7,000 species in 184 genera, all suitable for the
shady garden. Among those included are many of the
oldies, which serve gardeners well but may have been
forgotten, also many of our beautiful native plants,
and hundreds of new plants discovered in China, Korea,
Japan and other areas of Asia. Importantly, the book
includes much about their garden performance.
Practically nothing has previously been written in a
comprehensive manner about quite a number of these
plants. 

This encyclopedia is a large book, measuring 9 x 11<
inches and 1=-inch thick. The text comprises 374 pages
and includes a list of plant sources and a complete
index of plant names and synonyms. In addition there
are 122 glossy pages of color photographs bunched
together in the center without page numbers. They
contain 500 excellent photos of specific plants, many
of them taken by the author in his garden. Total page
count is 496. 

The introduction covers Schmid's early childhood
introduction to shade gardening and his philosophy
growing out of this experience. Also included are
chapters on the nature of shade, his thoughts about
soils, watering, fertilizing and the hordes of insects
that affect many gardens and how to control them. By
far the largest part of the book is devoted to an A-Z
compilation of plants suited for shady gardens with
complete descriptions for most of the important
species and cultivars. Plant cultural information
includes cold hardiness (U.S. Department of
Agriculture Hardiness Zone Map is included) and also
heat tolerance, which often is as important as cold
hardiness and for some plants more critical. Schmid
presents important data on the regional success rates
for most of the plants. In keeping with emphasizing
new and unusual plants, Schmid devotes many pages to
new plants, like some nine pages to Asarums, the wild
gingers. This is also true for Epimediums, for which
there are six pages. Hellebores have become very
popular in recent years; Schmid devotes some five
pages to them. His review of Polygonatums includes
many of the new species and cultivars now available
from specialist nurseries. Mentioned among these are
over 80 species of Arisaemas. Aside from Arisaema,
also included are other popular aroids like
Amorphophallus, Arisarum, Arum, Dracunculus, Pinellia
and Sauromatum. A large number of Paris and Trillium
species and cultivars are also described. The
introduction to each genus is interesting and
informative. It includes the author's experience with
the plants, the history and meaning of common and
scientific names, herbalistic use, taxonomic
placement, geographic distribution and noted on
propagation and reported disease problems. 

At just US$49.95, CAN $82.95, An Encyclopedia of Shade
Perennials is a great buy. I am proud to have this
book in my reference library.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index