The Reading Warehouse

How to choose the best from over 1,300 annuals and perennials.

The choice of annuals and perennials at any nursery is overwhelming, to say the least. Annuals and Perennials contains all the information needed to make the right choice from the enormous number of plants available. With its compact and easy-to-use format, the book is perfect to take along to the nursery.

Using the comprehensive plant-selection tables, gardeners can see at a glance the most important characteristics of more than 1,300 annuals and perennials, helping them make the best choice for their garden's appearance and cultivation requirements.

The first part of Annuals and Perennials is the plant tables, which are organized by species name and list the plant's characteristics. These are:

• Height and spread
• Perennial, biennial or annual
• Full sun, half-sun, heavy shade
• Cool, warm-temperate, subtropical or tropical
• Flowering and planting season
• Showy foliage, showy flowers, scented flowers
• Frost tolerance
• Bromeliad, carnivorous, gesneriad or none of these
• Suitability to container planting
• Indoor use

Having chosen a plant from the table, the gardener then turns to the book's second part, which describes the more than 1,300 species, cultivars and hybrids in greater detail. This includes growing zones and common names, as well as the plants' origins, color variations, growth habit (whether, for example, the plant spreads rapidly), propagation techniques, recommended uses, problem parasites or diseases, and extra cultivation notes. Color photographs illustrate a select number of plants.

Perennials and annuals play an important role in the garden. They can provide season-long, even yearlong, greenery and blooms. With Annuals and Perennials, any gardener will be able to choose the right plant for the right place--and that is the key to a beautiful and successful garden.