Shrubs and Hedges

by Eva Monheim

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Shrubs and Hedges is a modern herbarium collection of shrubs and hedges along with culture notes mostly aimed at the home gardener. Due out 3rd March 2020 from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, it's 224 pages and will be available in paperback format.

The book is quite well written, layman accessible, and it has an easy to follow logical format. The introductory material includes some good botanical definitions and uses and benefits of shrub plantings. The following chapters contain some horticultural history, general nomenclature and ID information, classic standard shrubs and some very basic garden design instruction, pruning and training, propagation, large plantings and permaculture (hedges & hedgerows), building and maintaining a healthy biome to attract pollinators and other creatures, especially challenging applications (water, hillside, pond, creek, riparian plantings, etc), as well as a wealth of advice on choosing, sourcing, and purchasing the correct plants for a particular purpose.

The book also includes a resource links list which is extensive and very useful along with a cross referenced index.

The photography throughout is lush, bountiful, clear, and beautiful. It's possibly the most outstanding part of the book. The varieties are clearly (and as far as I can see, correctly) labeled and distinguishable.

Larger plantings can be quite breathtakingly expensive to purchase, and preventing making even one major error purchasing the wrong plant could potentially save much more than the cost of the book. Highly recommended for anyone designing a garden area with larger focal plantings. I also really liked that there was good information for challenging areas (ponds, swamp, etc).

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.