The Timber Press Encyclopedia of Flowering Shrubs

Book excerpt: Rich attributes including vibrant color, fragrance, and sheer variety of form make flowering shrubs the most rewarding of garden plants, but this vast group with its scores of tempting plants — including abutilons, camellias, viburnums, and witch hazels — requires careful navigation. Leading expert on woody plants Jim Gardiner has distilled several decades of knowledge and experience into The Timber Press Encyclopedia of Flowering Shrubs, an incomparable pictorial reference of hardy shrubs that excel in temperate-zone gardens. This highly illustrated guide (with 2000 high-quality images) features more than 1700 plants organized alphabetically by botanical name and readily accessed using the common name index. Gardiner has chosen the best flowering shrubs for gardeners, from the Abelia, Buddleja, and Camellia to the Xanthoceras, Yucca, and Zanthoxylum. Essential horticultural notes accompany each entry and include expected height and spread after 10 years, season of flowering, preferred position, soil and pruning requirements, USDA hardiness zone rating, and more. With wise selection and care, flowering shrubs can be the making of a garden irrespective of its size, location, or the time of year. This important new book is the essential reference on the subject that no discerning horticulturist, landscape designer, or gardener should consider being without.