Taylor's Master Guide to Gardening

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Beginner's Guide
Review: I found this book to be very helpful. As stated in one of the other reviews, it is not an exhaustive reference, nor does it highly detailed. However, it is an excellent guide to gardening principles and ideas. The plant encyclopedia is comprehensive enough for the average gardener, and expains basic plant characteristics. I like the pictures, and think the basic layout of the book is ok, but it could use some improvement. I was able to buy my copy used, and would not recommend paying the full price.

Rating:
Summary: Taylor's Master Guide to Gardening
Review: Overall, I was disappointed by the book. The information provided is accurate but limited. Of the some 400 Primula species that exist, 5 are listed, similarly, the 70 Aquilegias are covered by only 4 species and the over 500 Potentillas have only one species described. Granted this is a "one-volume reference" with photos of the 1000 so-called "best plants", the book does not claim to be exhaustive. This book ranks low in my library. The photographs are often out of focus and the colours are poorly produced. The brief plant descriptions are separated from the photographs and are not overly helpful. The book may be useful to the less ardent gardeners of the world but given the hefty price tag, I would spend my money elsewhere. Anyone taking this volume to the nursery to buy plants would only have the barest notion of what to buy. I would urge others to purchase the smaller more focused guides in the Taylor's series.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent encyclopedia of trees, shrubs and flowers
Review: We purchased this book on buying a new home to search out trees, shrubs and flowers to include in our landscape design. As such, the book is excellent. I would not buy this book for plans and actual design patterns. The first chapters of the book give general introductions to gardening strategies; then beautiful and thorough plant identification. The ending chapters are on hardiness zones, plant care. Makes a wonderful reference book. Highly recommend.

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