Lavender: The Grower's Guide
by Virginia McNaughton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Virginia McNaughtonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-02-24
ISBN: 1604691255
Number of pages: 180
Publisher: Timber Press
Book Reviews of Lavender: The Grower's Guide
Book Review: A botanical encyclopedia comparing many varieties and explaining lavender botany
Summary: 5 Stars
Lavender: The Grower's Guide is a thorough and easy-to-use encyclopedia of the lavender varieties most common in production today.
Virginia McNaughton begins the book strongly by discussing how to grow lavender, how to prune it, the special requirements of lavenders, which ones grow well in containers, and the pests and diseases that can strike lavender and how to avoid them.
She then discusses lavender botany - the basics of leaf shapes, branch and flower structure. I usually find the specifics of botany quite dull, but I was interested to see such striking variations in lavenders. Even in plants that from afar look very similar, when you get up close and notice the details, the differences are actually pretty dramatic.
The strength of the botany section is in the easy-to-understand photos highlighting the differences she is discussing. On nearly every page, clear photos of the flowers or leaves against a clean white background make it easy to understand what she's talking about, and I was surprised to feel such enthusiasm for learning about the small distinctions between the different types of lavender.
After getting a primer in the differences to expect in different lavenders, McNaughton jumped into the best part of the book: the encyclopedia. She describes, compares and shows gorgeous photos of all the varieties.
When the subtle differences in flower color or flower shape might be hard to understand from text, she shows a comparison photo with a number of lavender flowers next to each other so we can pinpoint exactly which lavender we have or want. While the text of the descriptions does veer towards the botanical and less towards garden uses, I mostly want a book like this for comparison and ID purposes, so that was fine with me.
Using the encyclopedia and the photos, I was able to identify two lavender varieties that had failed at a client's house (I'm a landscaper), so I could order the proper ones for replacement. (If you're wondering what went wrong with them, I'll give you a quick lavender tip of my own. Don't let your dogs pee on them everyday. See? I know a thing or two about lavender, too!)
So who would benefit most from this book? If you're passionate enough about lavenders that you'd like to understand what makes each variety unique, or if you're in the business of buying, selling, growing, or somehow recommending lavender plants to others, then this book is an indispensable resource. No retail nursery or landscape designer should be without it.
Summary of Lavender: The Grower's Guide
With their heady perfume and stunning visual appeal, lavenders have been prized by gardeners since ancient times. Lavender is a truly comprehensive study that enables the reader to research and identify more than 200 lavender species and varieties. With chapters on cultivation, propagation, pests and diseases, and botanical history, this book is as practical as it is authoritative.More than 200 photos document recent advances in color variation that have resulted from intense breeding; plants now available range from deep purple and lilac to white, cream, pink, and red-violet. With so many hardy and dependable plants to choose from, no lavender enthusiast will want to be without this indispensable book.
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