Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia

by Donald Wyman

Book Overview

First published in 1971 and revised in 1977, Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia has sold more than 100,000 copies and become a veritable bible for the gardeners of the United States and Canada. Now the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0026320703
• ISBN13: 9780026320702
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 1248 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.5" x 6.7" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

The best -- bar none -- reference book for gardeners

What it lacks in glitz (American Hort Society books for example), it more than makes up for in information and organization. Covers everything. If you want to look up information on growing a plant, general information about one, diseases it gets and their treatments: this is the place. Further there is copius information on general gardening, recommendations for different conditions, and on and on, all written in a wry style that I enjoy. If you want beautiful books with lots pictures of pictures try the AHS series, if you want to look stuff up about the pictures, you can not do better than Wyman's.

Just about the best

I would like to be able to rate this book at 4.9 stars, because, in my opinion and by way of usage and reference, only one other usually supercedes it (the comprehensively illustrated "AHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants"). Yet the Wyman's remains a valuable reference that I consult as a second (and often first) source of botannical and gardening information. The other readers' reviews here should give ample incentive to buy this book. Their words-"well researched" [the book is thorough in its descriptions and definitions], "full and opinionated" [the writing is colorful and makes for interesting reading] and "comprehensive" [Wyman even gives the correct Latin pronunciation of each listed genus (I wish the AHS book did)]-affirm the book's usefulness.

Indispensable.

I have many gardening books and catalogs in my library, however, Wyman's is the one I refer to time and again because of its comprehensive discussion of each plant. If I could only have one reference, this would be it.

Five stars from Zone 5

Offering more information than you'll find anywhere else, this encyclpedia does NOT read like a pretty plant catalogue filled with the usual tired (and brief) descriptions. This book is a labor of love: full and opinionated, proof that a picture is not worth a thousand, well-researched words.

The best gardening encyclopedia in print.

Compared to other gardening encyclopedias, Wyman's has more of the answers more of the time with comprehensive lists, excellent illustrations and diagrams, and best of all, pleasing typography! A heavy user of horticultural reference material, if I were confined to one single source, Wyman's would be it