Burpee Garden Cyclopedia: A Concise, Up-To-Date Reference for Gardeners at All Levels

This small format pocket size guide is divided into three parts - Gardening from the Ground Up, Plant Portraits, and the Practical Gardener. The first section includes a wealth of information on critical factors for a successful garden. Some of the items discussed include climate, rainfall, wind, sun, soil type, drainage, and garden design. The Plant Portraits section is by far the largest section of the book and grouped by annuals and biennials, perennials, bulbs, roses, vegetables, herbs, groundcovers, and vines. For each plant the authors include descriptions (height, colors, etc.), tips for growing (when to plant, how to thin, transplanting, etc.), and other useful information. It also has a small section of photographs for several of the more common plants. The Practical Gardener section primarily covers equipment, pests, and diseases. The pests and diseases portion is good in that it covers characteristics, symptoms, hosts, and controls. While not a very thorough treatment of the pests and diseases it does cover the most common ones. The last part of this section has an excellent listing of plants organized by environmental preferences and uses. For example, it lists appropriate plants for bright sunny areas and for thickly shaded areas as well as ones to use for a cutting garden, for attracting butterflies, etc. If you are looking for a smaller book that is easy to take along to the garden center but thorough enough to have all the most common information you can't go wrong with the Burpee Gardening Cyclopedia.