From Book News, Inc.
This volume makes what once seemed to be bourgeois little clumps of greenery suddenly look charming and handsome. (Maybe seeing a photo of them alongside a stream in their native habitat helped.) Grenfell provides expert advice on cultivation, propagation, and garden uses of the hosta as well as an A-Z plant directory listing some 400 cultivars and forms. Includes a brief history and botany of the plant, information about hosta collections around the world, and information about exhibiting and showing hostas, with superbly detailed color photos. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.


American Gardening, by the Unknown Gardener
This is the best book on hostas that Ive seen. I thoroughly recommend this book, both to the beginner and the experienced hosta grower.


Readers Digest Catalog
This comprehensive survey of the genus in the popular series style is illustrated with stunning color photography for accurate identification.


(Royal Hort. Soc. - Jan. 1997)
The book is beautifully presented. It is full of practical information required to grow hostas, and you will find yourself dipping into it time and time again.(Jean Sambrook, The Garden, (Royal Hort. Soc.) Jan. 1997)


Peter Kendall, Journal of the Am. Rhododendron Society, Spring, 98
For a compact and invaluable reference that delights time and again at an eminently affordable price, I cannot recommend this book too highly.


Book Description
As most gardeners have had the pleasure to discover, there is a hosta for almost every garden situation. The Gardeners Guide to Growing Hostas is a beautiful, practical guide for both gardeners and collectors by one of the worlds leading hosta growers. It features essential advice on cultivation, propagation, and garden uses as well as an AZ plant directory listing over 400 cultivars and forms. Novices will appreciate the many color photographs that make picking the best variety an easy task; committed enthusiasts will enjoy the brief history and botany of the hosta and the information about hosta collections all over the world. World-renowned expert George Smith offers a chapter on how to use hostas in flower arrangements, and information on exhibiting and showing hostas completes the comprehensive, up-to-date account of this fascinating plant.


From the Publisher
Our popular ongoing Gardener's Guide series offers first-rate authors, an approach that is neither superficial nor overly technical, and excellent photographs.


About the Author
Diana Grenfells interest in hostas first started in the mid-1960s when few gardeners knew the plant. She has done much to raise the profile of hostas over the last decade, and in 1990 she authored the book Hostas: The Flowering Foliage Plant. Diana is a founding member and vice-president of the British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society and a life member of the American Hosta Society.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hostas is both a full and wide-ranging study of the genus by one of the world's leading hosta growers and also a practical guide for gardeners and collectors. The book features a wealth of essential advice on cultivation, propagation and garden uses and an extensive A-Z plant directory listing over 400 cultivars and forms. Committed enthusiasts will enjoy the brief history of the hosta, the botany of the hosta and information about hosta collections all over the world including England, Scotland, France, the Netherlands and North America. Information on exhibiting and showing hostas completes the comprehensive and up-to-date account of the fascinating plant. The book is illustrated with superbly detailed photographs and delightful, informative pencil drawings which are not only excellent aids to accurate identification but also an inspiration to all who want to grow and collect these lovely plants. The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hostas will delight hosta lovers, convert those unfamiliar with the genus and inspire a new generation of hosta growers.

FROM THE CRITICS

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