Books on Gardening

[Nold]

(this post might appear twice; I just woke up)
This doesn't open out very well because the previous owner glued and stapled the spine. Rydberg's description of Aquilegia saximontana had just been published the year before.

Bob

[Nold]

Something a little different; the Rev. Oscar C. Moreton's Old Carnations and Pinks. I would have liked more illustrations, but when you can produce a great deal of text and your illustrator is working so slowly that time seems to come to a complete standstill I guess it's understandable.  But it tries the author's patience to no end.
 
Bob

[Lori S.]

Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary by James G. Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris is an absolutely excellent reference for the non-botanist.  An alphabetical listing of botanical terms is illustrated with line drawings, plus comparative illustrations of different categories of structures and descriptions are provided at the back (e.g. inflorescences, leaves, surfaces, stems, etc.):
 

It's extremely helpful when trying to make sense of species descriptions.  I highly recommend it!

That said, I agree 100% with you, Rick!  It would be the absolute ultimate if a book included illustrations to show the differences between similar species in line drawings... specifically in the Roger Tory Peterson sense of pointing out the field marks and differences on the illustrations (with arrows, in his case) and also describing these in words (for us slow learners   ).  I can't even imagine the additional effort this would take, but it would be fantastic.  Monographs often do include pages of similar species displayed together, but I'm thinking more of the sorts of books that one might use as a field guide, e.g. Flora of Alberta.

[Hoy]

I have always loved books  concerning plants. The first I got was from an old aunt (my mum's aunt actually) and she had got it from her father as a Xmas present in 1919! It is a German textbook on plants (all kind of "plants" as mushrooms etc are included too). It is colourful plates and a lot of text (in German!) printed in 1876.

"Lehrbuch der Praktischen Pflantzenkunde in Wort und Bild, für Schule und Haus, für Gebildete aller Stände. Mit über 1000 Abbildungen auf 60 colorirten Tafeln in Doppelfolio und 214 Holzschnitten. Herausgegeben von Carl Hoffmann, Stuttgart. Hoffmann´sche V*erlags-Buchhandlung." *It is actually printed a B!

   


My "bible" regarding wild plants is Lid´s "Norsk flora" with black and white drawings and a lot of keys; and "Store nordiske flora" of Bo Mossberg et al with beautiful colorful drawings.

 

[McDonough]

Wow, lots of inspiration being shared here, and much to ponder and comment on; I'll be back.  But here's a quickie newsflash, I was googling around for Linanthus seed, and discovered that a version of Abram's "An Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States" is completely online, for free, as a Google eBook.  This link should take you to the Linanthus section, with L. grandiflorus found on Page 426!

http://books.google.com/books?id=WSasAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA430&dq=seed+california+linanthus&hl=en&ei=xhbATp60J4r50gGc6LjQBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=seed%20california%20linanthus&f=false

[Nold]

I don't really have anything better to do than spend time looking for books online. (The dog would disagree.) My latest acquisition was a near-new copy of Correll and Johnston's Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas for $18. Eighteen dollars. Ten cents a page.
It's best not to tell anyone about your secret passions (mine is collecting monographs, etc.) otherwise the prices might go up.
Here's the coolest thing I've acquired lately. (For a couple of dollars more.)  It's in mint condition which is why I didn't fully open the pages.

Bob

[Hoy]

Here's the coolest thing I've acquired lately. (For a couple of dollars more.)  It's in mint condition which is why I didn't fully open the pages.

Bob

So you don't read it but just admire it

[McDonough]

I don't really have anything better to do than spend time looking for books online. (The dog would disagree.) My latest acquisition was a near-new copy of Correll and Johnston's Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas for $18. Eighteen dollars. Ten cents a page.
It's best not to tell anyone about your secret passions (mine is collecting monographs, etc.) otherwise the prices might go up.
Here's the coolest thing I've acquired lately. (For a couple of dollars more.)  It's in mint condition which is why I didn't fully open the pages.

Bob

Wow, a flora of Texas has always represented a major void in my US flora-by-state coverage; at only $18 it's a steal.  I see an old friend in the photos you posted, I have the same Gentes Herbarum treatment on Aquilegia, with exquisite line drawings inside, in fact, I have scanned some of these and under fair use provisions posted them here on NARGS and on SRGC Forums:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=151.msg4872#msg4872

I see from a light pencil scribble inside the cover, I paid $12.50, but then again, that was back about 30 years ago.  You made a good "find".  I'm a sucker for such publications, but I more or less "kicked the habit" when I had children, disposable income was harder to come by then... still is.  But maybe I should start my antique-book-hounding again 

[Nold]

But maybe I should start my antique-book-hounding again

No, you shouldn't. You should leave all that to me......
Just like when all the new Karel Lang porophyllum sax hybrids make it to the U.S. (or Canada), I should get all those, too. http://www.skalnicky.cz/saxifraga_lang.php 
(I think AbeBooks does have another copy of Correll and Johnston that isn't over a hundred dollars.)

Bob

[RickR]

James, that's a very useful page on plant surface terminology.  Like Lori, I also have the book Plant Identification Terminology and I wondered why it didn't have such a comparison.  But it does!  Somehow I missed the whole surface section when I was perusing it for the first time a few months ago.  I am very impressed:

               

In a perfect world, everyone would use the same exact definitions for identification terminology, but we aren't always on the same page.  An even better reason to have the author of a key explain pictorially what he (or she) actually means.

[Nold]

In a perfect world, everyone would use the same exact definitions for identification terminology

I can think of several instances where botanists disagree as to whether or not the taxon in question even possesses the described characteristics, e.g. the presence of a hypogynous nectary disc in Pennellianthus (Penstemon) frutescens.
And just try to find out where Yucca baileyi really grows. Some authorities say it grows all around me, but I've never seen it. Others say it doesn't grow anywhere near me. Some say southern Colorado, some say Utah, some say New Mexico, some ignore it altogether.

Bob

[Tim Ingram]

Sometimes it's worth thinking of the books that have never been written. The late Jim Archibald studied literature and was an exquisite writer when describing his travels in the AGS Bulletin. But sadly as others have said he never wrote about his exploits in other ways, as for example other great plant collectors like Kingdom Ward. On the other hand his legacy to our gardens was immense and the connections he made with other gardeners through his seedlists unequalled.

It seems to me that in recent years much of the very best writing about gardening has come from the States, and what I like most are books by figures like Claude Barr who combined the botanical and gardening aspects of plants so well, and stimulated others to grow the plants too. The other book I find completely inspirational and beautifully produced is 'Rocky Mountain Alpines', Alpines '86. The combination of articles covering geology, geography, plants and gardens is superb. It would be great if more people (gardeners) could see the gamut of subjects that the alpine garden societies are interested in!

[Nold]

Sometimes it's worth thinking of the books that have never been written.

I can think of a lot that should never have been written ......
One of the true treasures of rock gardening literature has never been published in book form (discounting one custom binding that I know of), namely, the articles written by Dwight Ripley in his travels through western North America with Rupert Barneby, and some travels in the Mediterranean (or maybe only Spain, I forget).
They appeared as articles in the AGS bulletins of the 1940s, and thanks to the AGS they are now available on the CD-ROMs published by the society. 

Bob

[Schier]

True, the books that haven't been written.  I scrounge used book stores
( in person book stores ), library sales, anything to find books, including of course!
good gardening books. ( and needless to say, online too ) To find a real treasure is
such a treat! But, back to books that haven't been written, I agree totally, so many
gardeners and plant explorers with so much to say, and how we would love to read
what they might write.
** those Karel Lang sax hybrids are almost enough to make me swoon!

[Nold]

Writing gardening books is a huge amount of work if facts are of major importance. Checking and rechecking day after day. And even then, it's possible to make stunning mistakes.
This is my idea of a real gardening book. And possibly the funniest book I've ever read this side of H. Allen Smith. I remember reading it aloud to my late wife and the two of us laughed so hard we almost passed out.
Bob

(first edition)