Books you may like to hear about

[David Shaw]

Great news for SRGC book lovers! The Publications Manager has come to an arrangement with Timber Press for SRGC members to get a generous discount on Timber Press titles. You will find an advert from Timber Press in the July journal and this contains a password for you to enter on the order form. The discount is at least equal to what you will get from Amazon and UK postage is free. The offer applies to all Timber Press publications, not just the selection that I offer.
To see the extensive and varied range of Timber Press titles go to:
http://www.timberpress.co.uk/

[ranunculus]

Congratulations David and many thanks for another excellent initiative.

[Maggi Young]

FROM the RHS:

The Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Conifers.

A comprehensive guide to cultivars and species by Aris G. Auders and Derek P. Spicer.

Publication date: July 2012

ISBN: 9781907057151

 

A new reference title for conifers has been unveiled. Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley, Surrey, England in cooperation with Kingsblue Publishing Limited has published the Encyclopedia of Conifers: a Comprehensive Guide to Cultivars and Species. The book is already in stock and available from the warehouse in United Kingdom, Swindon. Currently the Encyclopedia is offered by a special pre-publication price and July is the last month to take advantage of this special offer at http://www.coniferworld.com/order.php.

 

This two-volume, lavishly and extensively illustrated encyclopedia is a much needed, complete reference book covering all recognised conifer cultivars and species, both hardy and tropical. The 1,500-page work features names, synonyms, and brief descriptions, as well as information about height and spread after 10 years, where known, for over 8,000 cultivars and all 615 conifer species, plus their subspecies and varieties. Apart from the descriptive text, it is illustrated with more than 5,000 photographs, which have been taken especially for this encyclopedia. More than 500 species and 5,000 cultivars are depicted in high quality photographs, many taken in private collections in northern Europe, Japan and the USA.

 

The species and their descriptions follow the most recent botanical classification (Farjon, 2010) and the cultivar information has been compiled with reference to the RHS International Conifer Register and Checklist, including as yet unpublished data. There is unique appendix listing all the principle conifer collectors, nurseries, arboreta and individuals responsible for introducing new cultivars over the last three centuries. The book is designed to meet the needs of professional as well as amateur gardeners.

 

Aris G. Auders, a conifer collector and photographer, and Derek P. Spicer, chairman of the British Conifer Society, have been working on this book for 7 years. The authors have been assisted by Lawrie Springate, RHS International Conifer Cultivar Registrar and Victoria Matthews, RHS International Registrar.

 

Author and broadcaster Roy Lancaster states in the Foreword:" The authors are committed and knowledgeable conifer enthusiasts who have been supported by a wealth of international expertise and experience. The book is claimed to be the most comprehensive account of its kind. Its authors and their helpers have delivered a truly monumental account of a major group of woody plants."

 

You can find more information, as well as text and photo samples of the encyclopedia at www.coniferworld.com.

A copy of this hard cover edition, two volumes, 1,500 pages book can be ordered from publisher at http://www.coniferworld.com/order.php. July is the last month to take advantage of a special pre-publication price - 120 GBP for two volume set of the RHS Encyclopedia of Conifers.


Armands Jurjevs

Encyclopedia of Conifers

Email: info@conifer-encyclopedia.com

www.coniferworld.co.uk
 

[ChrisB]

i get some interesting enclosures when I get membership renewals.  Today I got a business card from Mike and Liz Fraser who have a book published by kew called The Smallest Kingdom: Plants and Plant Collectors at the Cape of Good Hope.  Thought forumists might like to know.  I know nothing about it though....

Cheers

Christine 

[Maggi Young]

Here's  link to the Fraser's  website...  http://www.thesmallestkingdom.co.uk/  ... very interesting!

 added later : I had quite forgotten hat I had read a review of the Fraser's book at the end of last year in John Grimshaw's blog....http://johngrimshawsgardendiary.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/good-reads.html   - some other good reads listed there too.

[ronm]

It does look very interesting, and such a reasonable price.

[Anthony Darby]

I've just received a nice book for Father's Day (which is today in New Zealand): "Ghosts of Gondwana - The History of Life in New Zealand" by George Gibbs. It traces how the current day plants and animals got here.

[Tim Ingram]

Anthony - do you know those two beautifully produced books by Mary White, 'The Greening of Gondwana' and 'After the Greening'? Not surprisingly they are largely centred on Australia. The book you mention sounds very interesting for anyone with a fascination in Southern Hemisphere flora and fauna - I've always found the connections across the different continents completely intriguing.

[Anthony Darby]

Tim. Don't know those books, but the Ghosts of Gondwana fitted, especially as I've become fascinated with the native fauna and flora here. I have to doubt George's reasoning for the Kiwis naming the occasional migrant butterfly Hypolimnas bolina the blue moon because that's how often you are likely to see one (I saw one in Kerikeri last year). I think it has more to do with the large white circular spot surrounded by iridescent blue on it hind wings! http://www.flickr.com/photos/rstickney/4416250730/#

[Lesley Cox]

I'll look for that Anthony at the UBS probably. It sounds interesting. According to someone many of our most "Iconic" and positively NZ creatures originated in Australia! That's a worry.

Bought a Kobo ereader yesterday.

[Anthony Darby]

Whether they originated in Australia or not they either came with the land mass or migrated here subsequently, e.g. the buttercups, including the ancestor of the Mount Cook buttercup, only got here 2 million years ago. It's a fascinating read. I'm learning about the kakapo and the short tailed bat, both lek breeders!

What authors do you read Lesley?

[ranunculus]

Did someone mention 'Buttercups'?  LOL.

[Anthony Darby]

Finished "Ghost of Gondwana". Learned new words like divarication, and that many of the animals are ghosts of Gondwana but the plants arrived here later; that man has caused the most dramatic reduction in New Zealand fauna but not so much to the flora, just added to it. In the 18th century they were hell bent on replacing the dull native fauna with familiar animals from home, like the flocks of goldfinches I see every morning, feeding on the football pitch grass heads, and rabbits, whose droppings, alas, seem to form part of Heidi's diet, and all the other vermin. In fact "the attitude of the day (Victorian times), exemplified by influential naturalist Walter Buller, was that the loss of the remarkable endemic life, especially the birds, was inevitable. He did his bit by shooting rare birds for museums of the world before it was too late". It contains many colour photos, including the only coloured photo of the last flightless New Zealand wren (no, not the species annihilated by the lighthouse keepers cat).

[ashley]

Although goldfinches are widespread here I've never seen them in the big flocks that occur in NZ.

Years (15 or so?) ago I had a fascinating book about conservation of the most threatened NZ bird species, possibly published alongside a series on NZ TV.  Then it was lent, I forget to whom, and unfortunately never returned

[Anthony Darby]

I was looking up Buller's "Birds of New Zealand" and discovered the price for a 1st edition is NZ$12000 and a second edition NZ$8000. Hand original coloured plates from the book range from NZ$250 to NZ$650! Here's a compromise: http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapaPress/FullCatalogue/NaturalHistory/Pages/BullersBirdsofNewZealand.aspx