Specialized Books

This is a great beginner's book on how to create topiaries & espaliers. The book is in full color with lots of photos. Instructions are clear and easy to follow. In each section appropriate plant types are discussed.

First, frameless topiaries are described. Designs included are lollipop, poodle, spiral, & corkscrew trees. The book then shows how to make empty frame topiaries. Included are circles, hoops and spirals.

Then it shows you how to make a moss-filled bunny. Following this method you can make almost any shape imaginable. Several kinds of espalier shapes, and how to make them are then show.

Finally, knots, mazes, pleaching, pollarding & coppicing are covered. Proper tools and shaping hedges are explained as well. Be aware that most plants used are for warmer climates (zone 6 or above).

This is the first negative review I've written, and I feel badly about it. I was so anticipating the arrival of this book.

The instructions, which I was eager to get, were only the most general, basic things I already knew even though I'm a raw beginner. I was particularly interested in espalier and pleached allee directions and was hoping for a book with lot of focus on these. A couple of short articles available on the Net were much more informative and illustrated each step very clearly.

The list of recommended plant materials was limited. With a little research on the Internet, I obtained a much more extensive list suited to my area.

The photos were the best part, although they could have been improved, too.

The most positive statement I can make is that the price was most reasonable, and perhaps that is why this book was so lightweight, more for browsing than using for instruction.

I'm ordering another book from Amazon, hoping for better instructions--and hopefully, I'll be able to write a glowing review!

I am sure there is a big creationalist Vs Darwinist debate in the US and will probably reach us in the UK soon (when the media gets bored with red amber green terrorist threats and look for something else to make pointless debates about) and the late Martin Lings is (to some extent) in the creationalist camp but his books are just becoming the same old thing over and over again.

In this book again, like the 11th hour we have quotes from scientists speaking out against dawinism, how science has overtook religion, reason over spirituality and while there may be some points of interest here they are overshaddowed by a debate (creation Vs Darwinism) that the majority of the population frankly doesnt care about.


How darwinists will shout about the desruction of science by fundamentalists how creationists will shout about the lack of faith destroying society (as though through history we have never had high and low points of religious devotion)

Simple fact of the matter is while both groups attack one another the vast majority of people abandon religion for football, sports, clubbing and generally anything else which is more inclusive than "My Gods better than your God, then and us" religion. Nobody sits around reading origin of the species so why does Mr Lings waste his time on this crusade against it when most people know of it, have heard of it but care little about it?

Both camps have failed because they have tried to impliment an absolute truth to a society that has so much and so many options to chose from and is tired of being condencended by both groups thinking they are stupid enough to blindly follow one or the other and need to be 're-educated' especially when the so called 'educators' are no better than the students.

Its pointless looking at history through rose tinted glasses seeing it as 'though terrible things did indeed happen in the past, society was centred on religion and had a better world view' because otherwise there will be no concept of just why religion has been so roundly rejected in our modern age (and it should be pointed out that this is not the first time in history, from almost every society we can read how from time to time religious devotion fell away amongst its followers) At the time of the Turkish republic there were over 100 Zawiyas and Tekkes in Istanbul yet almost nothing exists of that society less than a century later. People didnt just lose faith overnight.

While the book covers religious societies across the world (especially the Indian traditions (which Guenon was interested in) and the Native American one (which Schuon studied)) The conclusions are poor, you may as well just read a book by Guenon or Schuon and save yourself the bother.

A better effort is needed otherwise this debate will be nothing more than a fringe argument that every now and again will get a bit of time on sky news or al-jazeera when there is nothing else to report.

This is a useful guide to select and maintain dry gardens. The author lives in England, so not everything is useful in Chicago gardens, but there are lots of useful tips and plant selections that help to give a better understanding dry garden requirements. I found the information useful in designing gardens along the Lake Michigan lakefront which has sandy soil.

I don't quite get what this book is. I think it's some transcription of some take-off on a 'real' book by Steve Solomon, now out of print, called Water Wise Gardening. This has typos starting on the cover, and continuing throughout, and has the feel of some vanity press book- it reminds me totally of a bootleg tape. But it's cheap and the information is really good if you're interested in growing a food garden without irrigation. The secret is that you need a LOT of room. I have NO room, or nearly none, so many of the spacing guidelines given for planting are not applicable, but the principles are well-explained and there are definitely some methods I can and will immediately adopt to reduce my water use in the garden.

Steve Solomon is the guru for those of us growing vegetables in the Pacific Northwest, and this reprint or whatever it is of some of his wisdom is worth the low price, for sure.

The book isn't the best. Its short a mere 64 pages and a good number of the pages are covered with pictures. The lighting section was useful but you could of gotten the rest of the information from a houseplant book.

The book is meant to be used as a companion to a key for hardwood identification by microscopic means. Initially this key utilised punched cards, but it has (of course) been computerised. Note that the actual key is not included here. The present work is intended to describe and illustrate the 91 (99) wood anatomical characters used in this key. Illustrations are 66 half-tone plates of four (sometimes two or three) 6x9cm black&white photomicrographs: note that the plates belonging to fig 62 & 63 were inadvertently interchanged. In addition there is one (historical) plate illustrating the author in his lab.

Since the characters used are fairly orthodox this book can also be used as a illustrated list of wood anatomical characters, as an alternative or a supplement to the IAWA-list (issued from Leiden: eevn@euronet.nl). Since this CSIRO key is published in Australia, the woods illustrated tend to be from Australia or its adjacent areas.

This book deals mostly with miniature landscaping in an outdoor setting and is not very useful for landscaping a dollhouse. Many of the plants recommended are very difficult to find and require an outdoor location. Very few indoor plants are mentioned. It's a Great book for someone interested in outdoor gardening in miniature.

The Scott specialised catalogue of United States stamps is a bible in two ways: because it is the only current catalogue of its kind and because of its wealth of information.

As it has become a reference book one would have expected that rather than rest on the laurels of a monopoly position the editors would have improved the layout, the design, the consistency in presentation and corrected errors. This is being done on a very piecemeal basis probably because of lack of resources. In some aspects, perhaps not regarded as important to the editors, up to 80% of the information is missing or wrong.

This should not detract from the value of the catalogue but it is a great pity that the publishers do not provide the editors with more resources so that they can accomplish their task.

This really has very little useful information in it and only a few small maps. You'd be better off getting an ordinance map or the books the government puts out. You may have to wait until you get to the UK to get these however.

A third of this book is devoted to basic computer concepts that can be learned elsewhere(and better). The garden part is a collection of freeware, shareware, and sample programs many DOS based. Not worth the money

The author glosses over the computer use of applications which he recommends. A book written for this level of computer user should be written cook book style: First, perform this step; then perform this step; then . . . .

PLease note that this rating applies to the book, only. I purchased it used from Discount Books and would give that vendor five stars for their service.

Bob Boufford's The Gardener's Computer Companion combines gardening and home computing to offer the reader everything necessary to convert their personal computer into a powerful gardening resource. From designing and planning a garden, to automating a watering system, to finding gardening products and information on the World Wide Web. The Gardener's Computer Companion's informative text is superbly enhanced with an accompanying CD-ROM that includes more than 60 programs, such as software for Landscape design, planning and garden simulating; reference databases of plants, herbs, flowers, and chemicals; garden-related games and stories; garden calculators and cataloging programs; planners, journals, organizers and useful computer utilities. If you have a garden and a computer, then you need The Gardener's Computer Companion.

This book is an in-depth exploration of the vast possibilities available to the person who wants the ultimate garden gadget: the home computer. But it doesn't actually let you DO anything. It tells you the difference between hardware and software, how to buy a computer, what the parts of a computer are (ie, keyboard, mouse, modem), what an operating system is, what a spreadsheet is, the questions to ask when looking for software, and a lot of other stuff. It introduces the www on page 86. The included CD-ROM contains 60 shareware and freeware programs that do not allow you to print or save whatever you may design, and in some cases only allow you to explore the possibilities of design on a set imaginary property, not your own. You can get a decent feel for a broad range of software options without buying 60 different programs, but if you are already reading this and have heard of Google, it is a waste of [$$$] (cover price) and 95 cubic inches of paper. A great gift for the recently retired gardner with some money and land and no idea how to use a computer.

Whether you are a computer professional or computer neophyte, if you want to learn how a computer can help you become a better gardener, The Gardener's Computer Companion is the book for you. Author Bob Boufford's use of gardening analogies to explain technical topics, such as how computers work, are clever and enjoyable. While the knowledgeable computer user may be bored by some of the chapters, he/she will find the index of gardening Internet sites, as well as the discussion on Internet providers and services useful.

Unfortunately, this book may naively lead the computer neophyte into believing that designing your garden on the computer is child's play and a computer will solve all of your gardening problems. While a computer is a wonderful tool and the Internet is a fabulous source of information, life isn't so simple. Many computer aided software packages are difficult to learn and, no software or Internet site can replace the knowledge one acquires from years of hands on gardening. He also neglects to point out the tremendous number of hours it sometimes takes to resolve computer glitches, not to mention the headaches involved with sophisticated projects like monitoring your garden with a video camera. Remember the old axiom, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Nevertheless, this book is enjoyable and informative. It provides practical advice regarding how the average person can become a better gardener with help from their computer. It also provides a glimpse of what is possible, although perhaps not practical.