Product Description

Horticulturists, students, and dedicated home gardeners will be familiar with Armitage's authority on this topic from his more technical Manual of Annuals, Biennials, and Half-Hardy Perennials. That volume was singled out as a winner of the Choice Academic Book Award, the American Horticultural Society Book Award, and the Garden Writers of America Golden Globe Award. While this new offering is a perfect pictorial companion to the Manual, it also stands alone with its personal commentary and inspiring advice on the most interesting, important, or overlooked plants. Armitage selects proven specimens from nearly 200 genera of plants and evaluates their garden-worthiness and sheer beauty. With humor, authority, and a wealth of practical experience, Armitage offers invaluable insights into those plants that truly earn their keep and a few that do not! He has illustrated the entries with more than 1300 stunning color photos, rounded out by more than two dozen helpful lists of plants suitable for particular situations or uses, including plants for cool-summer areas, plants for dry situations, edible plants, container plants, shade plants, vines, and flowers for cutting.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #839283 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-15
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 3.48 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

From Booklist
In dedicating his latest book to plant breeders, Armitage conveys his enthusiasm for the breathtaking range of ornamental plants now available to avid gardeners. Many green thumbs specifically count on annuals to bring vibrant color to beds and borders during the traditional growing season, and this encyclopedic reference provides a wealth of photographs to help delineate the ever-increasing arrays of annuals that can be found at nurseries and garden centers. Armitage's lively text is both informative and entertaining, and instead of emphasizing cultivation requirements, he provides savvy, up-to-date recommendations for the most desirable species and cultivars to enliven one's garden, from stunning forms of ornamental okra to fuchsias and tropicals such as ginger lily and the unusual twining vine Basella alba. A terrific resource for gardeners and an essential book for anyone who gardens in warmer regions, where many of these plants are among the choicest of year-round specimens. Alice Joyce
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Review
A perfect edition to round out your horticulture library..down-to-earth..the latest in garden annuals along with those long considered the best for the annual garden. Joanne S. Carpender, National Gardener, August 2004 (National Gardener )

A comprehensive and boldly colorful resource for anyone looking for just the right annual for their garden ... beautiful photos and to-the-point text are perfectly balanced. San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles, July 2004 (San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles )

Nobody knows annuals better than Allan Armitage.George Weigel, People Places Plants, Summer 2004 (People Places Plants )

About the Author
Widely regarded as one of the world's foremost horticulturists, Allan M. Armitage is a professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, where he teaches, conducts research on new garden plants, and runs the University of Georgia Horticulture Gardens. He travels widely as a lecturer and consultant, and is the recipient of numerous awards from nursery trade groups and horticultural organizations, including the Medal of Honor from the Garden Club of America, the National Educator Award from the American Horticultural Society, and the Scott Medal and Award from the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, arguably the most prestigious honor in U.S. ornamental horticulture. He is the author of nine other books, as well as six CDs and two Internet courses for gardeners. Armitage was honored with a Quill and Trowel award from the Garden Writers Association of America, and Greenhouse Grower magazine named him one of the ten most influential people or organizations ever in the floriculture industry for "encouraging growers to expand their markets with new annuals, cut flowers, and perennials."