Books you may like to hear about

[Yann]

Another book just released by 2 nature lovers, Chris & Basak Gardner

Flora of the Silk Road, 416 pages, 3Kg (!!) full of marvellous photos.

[Yann]

more of this wonderful book (i know it's not the weight of an Android tablet but when you open it, you got the whouaah effect)

[FrazerHenderson]

Royal Flowers of the Netherlands
Dennis A-Tjak
Terra Publishers, 2009
HBK 192pp, 347X260mm

Last year I chanced on a copy of this beautiful book when perusing a second-hand emporium in Dordrecht, Netherlands and immediately wanted to transplant it to my own library.  Though, weighing in at over 2kgs, it sorely tested my hand-luggage limit on the return flight! 

Genuine beauty doesn't fade through familiarity: I have continued to admire this book and the warm, sensuous photographs by Dennis A-Tjak. Essentially the book follows through on an idea to represent flowering bulbs which refer in one way or another to the Dutch royal family. In reality A-Tjak’s idea is merely a publishing excuse to show some of his truly delightful images for he also includes photographs of Rembrandt or broken tulips which have no royal connections, though I suppose they are associated by many as being quintessentially Dutch.

Within its many pages is a marvellous, colour-rich bouquet of over 180 images of tulips, narcissi, hyacinths and the odd fritillaria. The single and occasional double-page spreads are organised chronologically in accordance with the date of record or introduction of the various cultivars, starting with T. ‘Duc van Tol’ (1595) and concluding with the prosaic T. ‘Orange World’ (2008). Along the way life-size images are presented of such broken beauties as TT. ‘Zomerschoon’ (1620), Keizerskoon’ (1750), ‘Julia Farnese’ (1850), ‘The Lizard’ (1903), ‘Adonis’ and ‘Mabel’ (both of which are shown as 1915 Dutch introductions, though they were known much earlier in the UK) as well as the gold and blood red ‘Royal Sovereign’ (1916). Not all the photographs show the plants in good bloom for there is beauty in imperfections and even in the wilted state.

The book also contains short chapters, in English, by Rien Meijar on the growing and cultivation of bulbs with a brief and well-trodden history of tulips and a useful description of events, gardens and cultural institutions containing flower representations (such as flower vases or paintings) in the Netherlands. 

I thoroughly recommend this book.

New copies are available at 50 Euros (about £40). I was fortunate to obtain a pristine copy for 10 euros. Readers would be well advised to try a bargain book site such as Postscript (www.psbooks.co.uk) (on which it is currently available at £8http://www.psbooks.co.uk/products/arts/photography/item/royal-flowers-of-the-netherlands   ) to obtain a substantial reduction on either Amazon or Waterstones.

[Maggi Young]

Carolyn Walker has reviewed  Naomi Slade's Snowdrop Book  - complete with kind words about the SRGC Forum 
http://carolynsshadegardens.com/2015/01/14/new-snowdrop-book/

[Maggi Young]

Carolyn Walker has reviewed  Naomi Slade's Snowdrop Book  - complete with kind words about the SRGC Forum 
http://carolynsshadegardens.com/2015/01/14/new-snowdrop-book/

   

See HERE  for news of how to get a discount on this book - and others!

[Maggi Young]

Quote from: Maggi Young on October 23, 2014, 10:31:03 PM

    Forumist  Stephenb from  Malvik, Norway - well known to us  here as a man " eating his way through the world's 15,000+ edible species" has got a book coming out shortly.

    The book is " Around The World in 80 Plants: An Edible Perennial Vegetable Adventure For Temperate Climates" by Stephen Barstow

    See here for more : http://permanentpublications.co.uk/port/around-the-world-in-80-plants-an-edible-perennial-vegetable-adventure-for-temperate-climates-by-stephen-barstow/     

(Ian reviewed this book in the Bulb Log a few weeks ago
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2014Nov261416997359BULB_LOG_4814.pdf   =Log with the review)

You can buy the book here -  http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/around-the-world-in-80-plants.html

My review of the book- in the latest issue of The Rock Garden - out now...

[ian mcdonald]

I wonder why the book on Alpines in the Roger Philips and Martin Rix  series never appeared?

[astragalus]

After a couple of months wait, my Birthday present "Flora of the Silk Road", finally arrived and it was worth the wait.  What a beautiful book!  Some of the plants I've never seen and a few are in my garden.  The photography is spectacular.  The book has inspired me to try some of the Juno Irises for a start.

[Roma]

I must stop reading this Forum.  I have just gone and ordered Flora of the Silk Road and Round the World in 80 Plants .  I need to get rid of some books to make room on the shelves.  Husband doesn't understand my addictions - books and plants - could be worse -  so there's no chance of sneaking in another bookcase.

[astragalus]

Roma, I'm sure there must be some space you haven't considered, such as over doorways and windows, usually just space not being used!  Easy to put shelves there, and how convenient to pick out your next book while going through a doorway.  I always tell my husband that books are necessary in our cold climate - they add insulation to walls.  That being said, books do have a bad habit of cloning themselves while you sleep and when you get up, any empty shelf space you had will be packed solid.

[Lesley Cox]

After almost two years at my new address I'm at last getting all my books unpacked. This is good because I realize that I CAN throw out an awful lot. I'm re-reading old thrillers mostly and they seem so outdated, the characters unreal in the modern world that I'm almost embarrassed by some. So dozens are going. Even Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh don't cut it compared to Stuart McBride or Stieg Larsson! The overall result is several metres of space now available.

Some garden and cookbooks are going too. Everything that is discarded will go to the Regent (Theatre) 24 hour Book Sale, a once a year event helping to fund the theatre Trust. Books are donated and are snapped up very quickly. Many thousands of dollars are raised each year from books selling from 50c to about $5 for the best and newest, everything from old paperback westerns to second hand medical tomes. Sheet music, and CDs too.

[Yann]

I know some of you are also orchids addicts and love middle-east.
There's a must have title named "Die Orchideen der Türkei" you should own.
It's pricey but it's surely the most complete book on the subject.

Scotland gardens guide is there to compare book's height   

[Yann]

the book contains detailed distribution maps

[Yann]

the 768 pages and the somptuous photos should make more pleasant winter evenings waiting for spring

[Yann]

Roma you will not be disappointed by the Silk Road book, but i'm sure you'll use it as an insulation (cf astragalus)