Gardening with Conifers

Covers virtually every aspect of conifer use and culture in a format accessible to horticultural students and home gardeners alike ... Magnificently highlighted by more than 250 striking color photographs ... Conifers are showcased in their full glory as richly textured, brilliantly colored, and subtly structured plants deserving of a spot in every garden. -- Booklist

Fifteen years after this review, we present a revised and expanded edition of this highly acclaimed reference. Among the changes is the addition of a foreword by Michael A. Dirr, author of such classics as Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. New content and updates are found in Why Conifers?, The Magic of Conifers, A Closer Look at Conifers and in the detailed practical section, Growing Conifers in Your Garden.

This edition features the author's comprehensively revised Directory of 600 conifers, so current that it includes Wollemia nobilis, a two million-year-old species only recently found and genetically identified, and available at a select few nurseries. Other new features are Conifers that Grow on You and The Mauergarten Story, which chronicles the author's design of the garden at one of Germany's premiere nurseries.

Comprehensive in scope and lavishly illustrated, the book includes a directory of more than 600 conifers and expert advice on:

• Size and growth rates, Canada/USA hardiness ratings
• Site and soil preferences
• Planting, maintenance and propagation
• Pruning, pests and diseases
• Dwarf conifers and ground covers
• Conifers in containers, moving conifers, and more.

Gardening with Conifers is a thorough and beautiful guide to coniferous trees and shrubs of the world available to North American gardeners. Stunning color photographs show conifers young and old in a variety of environments, from small gardens to many-acred gardens. It reveals the magic that conifers bring to a garden and how they create structure and balance for year-round visual interest and color.

Adrian Bloom is a nurseryman, gardener and writer, and chairman of Blooms Nurseries Ltd. in Norfolk, UK, home of Blooms of Bressingham nursery. He has 50 years of experience planting and maintaining the 17-acre "Foggy Bottom" garden, home to over 500 varieties of conifers.

Richard Bloom is an award-winning photographer whose garden images appear regularly in House and Garden, RHS The Gardening Magazine, Fine Gardening and other such publications.