Christopher Lloyd's Garden Flowers

Editions

Review

The word perennials, as now generally understood by gardeners, refers to non-woody plants, the mainstay of the herbaceous border, which survive from year to year but disappear from sight at certain periods when the climate does not favour them.

No-one knows more about them, or writes about them more colourfully than Christopher Lloyd.  In this sparkling volume he has put down, listing the genera alphabetically, a great deal of what he has learned, thought, seen, tried, liked or regretted about these plants, singly and in combination, at all times of the year, whether it be in his own garden at Great Dixter in Kent or further afield.

The great difference between this book and all-embracing encyclopedias is in Lloyd's offering not only descriptions of the plants, but in his highly personal assessment of their limitations as well as their best features.  Here he is on our native Bugles, Ajuga reptans: 'I do not want to discourage any enthusiast, but I have given them up - they are incorrigible infiltrators and after flowering they self-sow and all sorts of bastards are the result.  Furthermore they are subject to powdery mildew.'

This is certainly Lloyd's most important book since The Well-Tempered Garden of 30 years ago, and it will provide amusement, pleasure and information for years to come.  He really is a wonder. - review by Stewart Grimshaw