'Organic Crops for Pots and Small Plots', this beautiful large hardback tome has a foreword by Raymond Blanc. A new generation of gardeners are hungry for the know-how to transform their balconies, front doorsteps and back gardens into spaces to grow edibles. Anna Greenland, rising star of the organic grow-your-own scene, offers the jargon free inspiration, information and confidence to get you going from scratch. She has selected her Top 30 crops which are not only straightforward to grow, but also yield vegetables, herbs, fruits and edible flowers. Chapters cover Windowsills, Pots, Raised Beds, How to Grow, Troubleshooting, A Year-Round Planner, Crop Plans for Two Raised Beds, and the Top 30 and the Jargon Busting section. Alpine strawberries, a recipe for Rose Geranium Syrup which is delicious with Gin, Vodka or drizzled over ice cream, Rhubarb Shrub, Pickled Nasturtium Seeds or Butter, Coconut Calendula Salve for soothing stings and burns, all about apples, sage, parsley, chervil and chives, Gardener's Delight tomatoes on the vine, summer garden salads, French and runner beans, potatoes, chard, carrots and more. There is a monthly planner showing tasks and planting times for key crops, and compost recipes, weeding and feeding. A big glamorous handbook packed with colour photographs, 224pp.

'A Beginner's Guide to Cultivating Healthy Plant Care Habits' whether you are bringing home your first plant or already tending to a healthy row of green on your windowsill, your expert guide gives accessible tips and sage advice. In a big bright and breezy colourful large softback, we start with a short history of plant evolution, what makes a plant a house plant, plant nurseries and distribution, becoming a plant parent, your lifestyle and home, the five best first plants and the elements of plant care like food, re-potting, moving your plant, age and growth, propagation and making more plants, and sickness. Experts from nursery hedge growers to online content creators have contributed. One of the many colour photos shows a skylight keeping a bookshelf full of plants drenched in filtered, bright light. A wild pothos plant is an opportunistic climbing vine which hails from French Polynesia, perfect for hanging baskets. There is the popular snake plant, rubber plants, spider plants, ZZ plant (an East African succulent), staghorn fern from Australia with its architectural shape, the Chinese money plant, flowering begonia plant, common palm, zebra cactus and runner tree with its green and red foliage and of course the ever popular monster plant or Monstera. For each there is a note on light, water, temperature, level of care and whether it is safe for children or pets. Last of all there is a Planting Journal to record your plant by its nickname, common or Latin name, date brought home, pot size and diameter, environment, watering, soil and root health and notes and observations through the seasons. A glamorous 192 page softback published by Princeton Architectural Press. Colour photos.

'From whom did you steal that beauty? The rose laughs softly out of shame, but how should she tell?' - Rumi. Acclaimed horticultural historian Jennifer Potter shows that this most fragrant flower, the rose, has potency in societies around the world. She begins her story in the Greek and Roman empires and travels across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas to unravel its evolution from a simple briar of the northern hemisphere to the height of cultivated perfection found in rose gardens today. She lays bare the flower's long association with sexuality and secret societies, questioning the Crusaders' role in bringing roses back from the Holy Land, or hunting for its elusive blooms in the gardens of the Empress Josephine at Malmaison. An exquisitely beautiful heavyweight tome printed on quality paper and with hundreds of full page colour plates not only of roses but of archive paintings and historical artifacts and illuminated manuscripts, the book challenges many cherished beliefs about the rose and this thick tome looks to establish itself as the definitive history of the Queen of Flowers. Celebrated as a sacred symbol and as a token of womanhood, the rose unites Venus with the Virgin Mary, the blood of Christ with the sweat of Muhammad, the sacred and the profane, life and death, the white rose of chastity and the red rose of consummation. Not forgetting the delicate petals in different hues in the exquisite perfumes, we learn about roses which came to Europe from Turkey and Bulgaria and the Balkan mountains, rosemania and Redouté's exquisite portraits of their best creations which further inflamed passions. We have a 21st century view of cultivated roses be they old garden roses from Alba to tea and climbing tea, or modern roses like Floribunda to Polyantha. Chinese Whispers, American Beauties, the Housewife's Friend and its uses, here is trade and travel and sex and sorcery. 521 magnificent pages with approximately 100 colour illus. 16.5 x 24.1cm.
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Buttercup, honeysuckle, carrot, bellflower, gentian, daphne, ivy, valerian, nettle, hemp, mignonette, pondweed, daffodil, potato, teasel, rose, saxifrage, pink, pea, mallow, daisy, lily, orchid, poppy, there are grasses, shrubs, aquatic plants, cacti, weeds, herbs, balsams and more in an authoritative guide to more than 750 wild flowers of the world. Beautifully illustrated with more than 1,700 specially commissioned botanical illustrations, colour photographs and maps, and organised by families, it is all presented on glossy white paper and 256 huge pages, 10" x 12" approx. Among the prettiest are from the mallow family like the blue hibiscus, lily of the valley tree and from the grasses the blue tinsel lily which takes its name from its shiny blue flowers and is native to Western and South Australia. Christmas Pride, Golden Shrimp Plant and Mosaic Plant feature in the Acanthus family which in itself comprises about 250 genera and 2,500 species of herbaceous perennials, shrubs or twining vines. This is an absolutely superb reference for every gardener and nature lover.

Publishers Taschen have chosen to combine reproductions of Redouté's masterpieces of botanical painting with a text by two devoted experts. French flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté is often viewed as one of the last and the best of these painters and engravers. Commissioned by among others, Napoleon's Josephine, Redouté studied with the finest flower painters in France and Amsterdam. His illustrations of the botanical alphabets of D. M. Guillamain were a landmark in flower painting for their accuracy and beauty. He was also an innovator in the techniques of printing, introducing "stipple-engraving" to France. The revered tradition of botanical illustration dates back to the Renaissance. It emerged from the desire to catalogue nature in its unpredictable splendour, and the process demanded the most precise and talented of artists. Working from live plants rather than from the herbarium specimens gave Redoute's watercolours unusual subtlety and freshness. His impressive collection comprises over 2,000 paintings of plants rendered with great accuracy and strict adherence to nature. In this exquisite edition of Les Roses, Redouté turns his attention to the most romantic, desirable, and evocative flower. Originally published in three volumes between 1817 and 1824, it remains his most famous and celebrated work. 14 x 19.5 cm, 192 pages. Colour, new from Taschen.

An easy guide to growing wild food at home, foraging is now a common hobby for culinary enthusiasts, with wild garlic and mushrooms making their way onto many a plate. But you have to know what you are doing. Eating fresh wild food can be dictated by geographic position, and be limited by the forager's knowledge of how to identify the plants. This first-of-a-kind book shows you how to grow 30 edible wild plants at home, care for it, with advice on how to eat it and the types of wildlife that are likely to be attracted to each plant. There are some recipes for each to showcase the culinary potential including Borage Borek, Pink Clover Lemonade, Nettle Tagliatelle, Sea Kale with a Date and Yoghurt Dressing, Quick-Pickled Samphire and Summer Veg, Juniper-Crusted Pork Chops with Mustardy Cannellini Beans, Pork and Wild Fennel Burgers, Gin and Lime Granita with a Sweet Violet Syrup, Crushed Roasted New Potatoes with a Watercress Dressing, Perennial Wall Rocket and Chaard Lettuce Picada, Water Mint Pesto, Dandelion Salad and Horseradish Pickled Cucumbers among them. From dandelions and sugar beet, hops and chickweed, common elder, water mint, lesser burdock, wild marjoram to wood sorrel, common lime and fennel, the introduction covers safety and the law, environmental considerations to getting started using a pot or container and how small-scale gathering will help us all venture back out into the wild. Beautifully decorated and designed and packed with colour photos, 158pp.

A new way to accept the return to the old way of looking at our gardens as natural and wild spaces and allowing nature to reclaim them a little. Divided into mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates and plants, the book begins with foxes and badgers, often seen in gardens, one relying on scraps and the other finding room for digging a sett. Stoats, hedgehogs, shrews, squirrels, bats and rats, crows, thrushes and starlings, tree sparrows with their noisy chirruping call and chestnut coloured crown, ducks and geese before we move on to a very brief section on the common grass snake, frogs and toads and then fish like the minnow, the quintessential stream fish and the eel which travels out to sea for several years before returning to our rivers having reached adulthood. Finally, beetles, ants, wasps and bees, dragonflies and damselflies and all manner of moths and beautifully coloured butterflies displayed in a gallery of colour photographs. Worms and centipedes and a note on plants like algae and mosses, these hundreds of colour photographs and text are printed on glossy quality paper. Large softback. 136pp.

The complete definitive encyclopaedia is now available for the first time in large softback, and Bibliophile is the first to acquire copies. It provides meanings, powers, facts and folklore for over 1,001 flower species organised by both scientific and common names, along with a beautiful colour visual depiction. The characteristics, historic meanings and powers from mythology, medieval legends, folklore and flower poetry, symbolic flower meanings have fascinated readers, writers, poets and romantic couples alike for centuries. Extremely popular during the Victorian era, these floriographies blossomed whether helping create a bespoke wedding bouquet or planning stunning garden planting combinations. The use of one particular plant over any other in any working is dependent on its ability to boost confidence in the possible inherent power of that plant and its potent magical elements such as the dandelion puff. Sunflowers represent ambition, constancy and devotion; the daisy childlike playfulness and beauty; the amaryllis adventurousness, passion and the purple tulip eternal love, the Salix or pussywillow illness recovery or receiving a blessing, the petunia creativity and a settled lifestyle, and the rose of Sharon hibiscus persistent love and protection. Four to six entries per page, each with a beautiful colour artwork, Latin and alternative names, symbolic meanings, folklore and facts. 256 large pages, 15.4 x 19cm approx. Colour throughout.

From aubergine, basil, climbing French beans to cucumber and endive, gherkin and leek, pak choi, strawberry, sweet potato to turnip and yacon, an Inca vegetable which is a delicious sweet potato alternative, experiment with new and exciting crops. Others include oca, pepinos and stevia which has been proclaimed as one of the healthiest sugar substitutes (probably banned for commercial reasons), ideal for sweetening herbal teas, preventing tooth decay and colds and regulating blood pressure. It is a tender perennial just like basil and cuttings may be taken throughout the winter in a conservatory. With our unpredictable weather, there has never been a better time to cultivate vegetables under shelter. The experienced grower here shows us how to use the heat and shelter of a greenhouse or polytunnel to maximise crop production and supply tasty, healthy food throughout the year. Here are all our best-loved herbs and vegetables, as well as introducing exotic newcomers. Enjoy fresh and organic vegetables all year round, extend your growing season and for each there are Latin and family names, soil and site, sowing and propagation, spacing, plant care, harvesting, potential problems, varieties and how to use them. Line art illus., 304 page paperback.

A complete guide to orchids and their cultivation, these flamboyant, intriguing, beautiful and exotic plants have evolved to become the largest family of plants in the world. This classic book written by two of the world's leading orchid authorities and newly updated helps you identify, choose and display these delightful flowers successfully. It offers a round-the-world tour of the range of tropical and temperate habitats in which orchids are found and explains main orchid types, how early explorers discovered the first tropical orchids and started an orchid craze that continues today. It explains orchid botany and nomenclature, inspirational ideas for growing these plants indoors whether in glass tanks and baskets or on trees and stones, as well as growing orchids outdoors. There is information on basic tools and equipment, compost mixes, potting and mounting, propagation, feeding, watering and light control and dealing with pests and diseases. The Orchid Directory explains their natural habitat, size, flowering time and growing requirements, and all the main genera are covered from Cymbidium to Dendrobium, from Phalaenopsis to Phragmipedium as well as a selection of specialist orchids. There is also an easy-to-use glossary. On each grand very glossy bright white heavyweight page are between one and four colour photographs, many in close up, exhibiting the range of colours of pinks and orange and white and mottles and veins and patterns and blotches and spots, and shapes and textures, standing clear of the foliage and how flowers are produced at various times of the year, blooming again the following year. In 2009, the authors were jointly awarded the Westonbirt Orchid Medal for Outstanding Literary Achievement on the Subject of Orchids. The final inside back cover photograph is so close up you can almost feel the spongy iridescent silver sparkling texture of the pin spots on the beautiful white flower photographed. 256 very large pages, colour.
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