The Bottom Line
Dr. Allan Armitage writes from his own personal experience growing perennials and luckily for us, he has grown many. His very specific advice on the toughest species to choose or the sprawler to avoid is unlike most plant reference books that simply list the facts and features of plants.
Pros
- Includes personal growing experience, not just scientific entries
- Sites specific varieties with recommendations and cautions
- Excellent color photos include actual garden shots, not just specimens
- Useful indexes of "Selected Plant for Specific Characteristics or Purposes"
Cons
- Cultural information (zone, water needs, exposure...) are buried in the text
- Reads more like a garden journal than a reference book. (This could be a plus.)
Description
- Hardcover - 342 pp., 1,465 color photos, $49.95
- Conversational, anticipating the questions a fellow gardener might ask.
- Gives specifics about varieties to grow or avoid, backed up with facts and first hand observation.
- Doesn't try to cover every perennial. You trust the commentary is his opinion based on experience.
- There are color photos of multiple cultivars and species of each plant.
- The index of common names makes it accessible to novice and casual gardeners.
- The listings of plants by characteristics is a detailed and extremely useful reference.
- It goes beyond simply citing USDA zone and offers insights into growing in different climates.
- Styled as an encyclopedia, the book is also a "good read".
Guide Review - Garden Book Review - Armitage's Garden Perennials
Allan Armitage is a familiar name and face to avid gardeners. A horticulture professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, Armitage has always come off as more of a gardener than an academic. His approachable style translates well to this type of plant reference book. In reading his thorough essays on each perennial, you forget that you are hearing the opinions of a researcher or scholar and hear instead the sage advice of a passionate gardener who wants to share what he's learned with like minded gardeners. His Heuchera section begins, "Every time I open a catalog, I see that someone has developed a new heuchera. If it is not the best coral bell ever, then it would never have been developed, or so the catalog says. But after reading a dozen catalog descriptions, it is apparent that some of them belong in the fiction section of the library."
Armitage's Garden Perennials might have included more detailed growing information, but you can get that in most any perennial book. Where this book shines is in the specifics Dr. Armitage offers on species and cultivar selection. "Geranium sanguineum, bloody cranesbill, is the toughest species in the genus... When other geraniums let you down, try the bloody cranesbill." "The iceland poppy will not make it through summers in about seventy percent of the country, but so what? As long as you know what to expect, plant and enjoy."
If you're looking for a gardening mentor, this book belongs in your library.
