Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers, and Bamboos by Graham Stuart Thomas

Today's book recommendation: Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers, and Bamboos by Graham Stuart Thomas 
 
 
Graham Stuart Thomas introduces this essential, comprehensive reference of wood plants this way:
 
"All through my life I have been discovering plants; I do not mean going out into the wilds of other countries and bringing back new treasures for our gardens. I am no dauntless traveler. But, I remember the thrill of my first winter as a student at the Cambridge University botanic Garden of sniffing for the first time the delectable scent of winter sweet and the winter flowering honeysuckles, and learning how to distinguish them from each other...  I can claim to have grown, either directly or by proxy perhaps three quarters of the shrubs in this book; anymore have been observed to write about."
 
Of his book,Thomas differentiates from others he has read on the subject:
 
"My book is designed to help the reader consider the arrangements of his garden as a whole, And to furnish the different rooms with plants."
 
Graham Stuart Thomas helps gardeners relate to shrubs through characteristics such as size, evergreen or deciduous, color of flower, scent, season of flowering, autumn color, methods of propagation are all given in an ingenious Line of Facts for easy reference. Lively short descriptions of the characters of each plant help amateurs and professionals alike choose what to grow and what to avoid.