Plant Partners

`plant partners' by leading horticultural journalist, Anna Pavord, loudly proclaimed on the cover as the author of the best-selling `The Tulip' is comparable to culinary journalist Michael Ruhlman's writing a mass market paperback (probably from Workman or Chronicle Books) on foods which go together. In both cases, the authors' success with `high journalism' is no guarantee that their more pedestrian books will be worthy. Fortunately, like Ruhlman's `Charcuterie', Anna Pavord's more popular efforts like this volume are a cut above the average oversized book crafted to do well on the bargain table. In fact, Ms. Pavord's book is so well accomplished, the average gardener may actually find it a bit dense. The first thing that stands out is the fact that not only does our scholarly Ms. Pavord use the formal Latin scientific names for all flowers (which I heartily endorse), she also uses these scientific names as the section headings. One has to go to the individual sections and look at the pictures of the flowers to be sure you know of what species she is talking. Now many Latin names have become familiar enough to a dedicated gardener that this may not be a big thing to a true amateur gardener. Even I recognize with no prompting the fact that `Allium' is the name of the lilly genus and that `Hemerocallus' is the genus name for daylillies. Even easier are the genus names `Hosta', `Iris', and `Phlox'. This still leaves a fairly large number of pretty arcane names for the average occasional gardener. My other major complaint about this book is that while the primary subject is the matter of pairing plants which go together well, there are very few pictures of the highlighted pairs, as they actually appear in the garden. There are wonderful pictures of many plants, but mostly they are `head shots' which are about as artificial as a photographic portrait taken in a studio. Even with these two hurdles, this is a really worthy book, worth the effort needed to work with these stylistic choices. The very best aspect of the book is that the pairings are organized by season, and within season, offering pairs of plants that come together into their best presentation garb, whether that be flowers or foliage. My second favorite thing about the book is that it does not limit itself to either annuals or perennials. It does not even limit itself to our most familiar plant phyla, as it includes several ferns, which are probably ignored by the average gardener. My third favorite aspect of the book is that in spite of the far ranging variety of plants, it still manages to hit upon a few of my favorites, some of which are actually in my garden at this very moment. It is no surprise that my favorite here is the Tulip cultivar, `Princess Irene', of which I have planted hundreds. Unlike cooking, which one can (and must) do throughout the year, gardening has those lovely / dreadful lulls in the winter (especially in my Zone 5 and in the author's England), where all

This book is very informative and a pleasure to read. The author is both knowledgable and opinionated and even if one doesn't always agree with her, her humor is very funny; dry, understated, and British. Most of the plants she mentions are pictured somewhere in the book, and where the picture isn't on the same page as the description, the page number to locate the picture is in the margin right next to the written description. A great job and an excellent book!

I can't believe no one has yet to review this book. I find myself going through the book to look up a particular plant combination and then spending at least an hour paging through the book all over again. Anna Pavord's humo(u)rful writing makes for an easy read.This book is a definite MUST HAVE for anyone, beginner, amateur or professional (even if they wouldn't admit to having it on their shelf) who is interested in combining plants. I started using it about a year ago, and the results are fantastic - these combinations work. I especially like the attention to normally overlooked plants such as euphorbias,violets, and columbines and I am dying to try some of the more exotic combinations. The featured plant trios each contain a "star" plant and two companions. Each of the stars are also listed in the back with alternative partners. The book is organized with gradations from spring-summer-fall and includes bulbs as well as perennials and a few annuals. Missing are shrubs, roses, and climbers, but we can't have everything in one book, can we?The main critique I have (if possible I would have deducted 1/2 a star) is that the cultural information is decidedly limited - beginners will need to supplement this book with a good all-around perennial book. The pictures are drop-dead gorgeous and alternative colors and specific named varieties are also given. My advice - buy this book now and you can still get these plants in before spring really gets rolling.