Herbaceous Perennial Plants: A Treatise on Their Identification, Culture, and Garden Attributes

Allan Armitage has a well-deserved reputation for serving up solid information with precision and humor. Now based in Georgia, Armitage began his gardening career in Montreal. Thus, he knows a lot about what happens to plants in both Northern and Southern gardens. He shares his experience and experiments with great good will, offering a depth and breadth of information that is rarely surpassed. Armitage's take on hundreds of hardy perennials includes cultural specifics, propagation techniques, and suggested companions. This chunky book may seem intimidating, but don't let the textbook look put you off--all the information, technical or otherwise, is presented in clear, accessible terms that won't puzzle beginners yet offer advanced gardeners the answers they are seeking. On the whole, Armitage avoids trendy tender perennials such as Meconopsis (the blue Himalayan poppy) that don't perform well for most North American gardeners. His focus is on solidly hardy plants, those that thrive in USDA zones 3 to 8. He does, however, include a few newly popular plants such as Gunnera, the enormous Chilean foliage plants, and there are lengthy sections for hellebores, heucheras, and other horticulturally hot plants, mentioning and rating many of the newest named selections. --Ann Lovejoy