海角大神

The Internet has removed the need for so many types of book. Between the online nursery descriptions and search engine image searches, you can find basic information on many types of plant, and that鈥檚 often good enough.
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However, things become tricky when you鈥檙e trying to compare plants. For example, recently I wanted to plant a Spirea 鈥楴eon Flash鈥�, but all the nursery had was 鈥楢nthony Waterer鈥�. On the internet, the descriptions looked remarkably similar, to the point where I wondered whether I was dealing with the same plant under two different names. (This happens a surprising number of times in the plant world.)
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This is where a giant, thorough encyclopedia comes in handy.
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"" is now available, and it is a game-changer. Twice as thick as 鈥檚 most famous work, "," it is crammed full of photos and deliciously blunt descriptions of each of the varieties listed.

The book feels like a gift - the essence of Dirr, immortalized - and is clearly going to be the new must-have book for anyone serious about gardening.
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The benefits of a comprehensive encyclopedia like this are numerous. First, in my Spirea research, I was able to get a clear comparison between 鈥楴eon Flash鈥� and 鈥楢nthony Waterer鈥�. (If you鈥檙e curious, 鈥楴eon Flash鈥� is slightly shorter, much less wide, and doesn鈥檛 have the tendency to develop cream-colored foliage reversions as does 鈥楢nthony Waterer鈥� - in short, had I gone with the Internet鈥檚 advice I would have been pruning dear Anthony off his neighbors for years to come.)

Honest, no-nonsense advice

Second, I trust . He鈥檚 brutally sarcastic, thoughtful, and has no motive to make a plant sound better than it is (hello, nursery catalogs!). I鈥檝e certainly gotten some nasty surprises over the years through ordering plants that sounded fabulous from nursery descriptions, and then had lackluster coloring or performance.

Dirr cuts through all the hype and nonsense, and provides clear comparisons and quick summaries of the benefits or drawbacks of each variety.
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And the photos! Oh, the photos. There are two to six color photographs on every page, which means that I can see for myself what the habit or flower color looks like, without having to guess what 鈥渧ase-shaped鈥� or 鈥渕ore red than the species鈥� means to him.

A true time-saver

If you鈥檝e ever tried to look up an unusual plant in any search engine鈥檚 image search, you know the extreme limitations of that media. Mislabeled plants, no clear distinction between named varieties, and few photos of the habit of the plant (just flower closeups) are just some of the issues.
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Seeing the photos of differing varieties laid out right next to each other has already saved me enormous amounts of time when selecting just the right variety for a spot. It takes a lifetime of travel and dedication to build a photo library as extensive as this one, and it is almost as much of a gift as the text itself.
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If you鈥檙e a gardener and you already know and love the earlier book, "Dirr鈥檚 Hardy Trees and Shrubs," then this much-more-comprehensive encyclopedia is going to be on your wish list for the next gift-giving occasion.

I鈥檓 keeping my old copy of "Dirr鈥檚 Hardy," but mostly because it鈥檚 so muddy, dog-eared, and highlighted that I feel I鈥檇 be getting rid of a personal journal to pass it on now. In the years to come, I expect this new encyclopedia to take on that same well-beloved look.

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Genevieve Schmidt is and garden writer in the redwoods of Northern California. She shares her professional tips for gardening in the Pacific Northwest at , and on . To read more of what she has written here at Diggin' It, click here.