Practical Botany for Gardeners: Over 3,000 Botanical Terms Explained and Explored

by Geoff Hodge

Gardening can be frustratingly shrouded in secrecy. Fickle plants make seemingly spontaneous decisions to bloom or bust, seeds sprout magically in the blink of an eye, and deep-rooted mysteries unfold underground and out of sight. Understanding basic botany is like unlocking a horticultural code; fortunately learning a little science can reveal the secrets of the botanical universe and shed some light on what’s really going on in your garden.

Practical Botany for Gardeners provides an elegant and accessible introduction to the world of botany. It presents the essentials that every gardener needs to know, connecting explanations of scientific facts with useful gardening tips. Flip to the roots section and you’ll not only learn how different types of roots support a plant but also find that adding fungi to soil aids growth. The pruning section both defines “lateral buds” and explains how far back on a shoot to cut in order to propagate them.

The book breaks down key areas and terminology with easy-to-navigate chapters arranged by theme, such as plant types, plant parts, inner workings, and external factors. “Great Botanists” and “Botany in Action” boxes delve deeper into the fascinating byways of plant science. This multifaceted book also includes two hundred botanical illustrations and basic diagrams that hearken to the classic roots of botany.

Part handbook, part reference, Practical Botany for Gardeners is a beautifully captivating read. It’s a must for garden lovers and backyard botanists who want to grow and nurture their own plant knowledge.

Genres: Gardening, Nature, Plants, Nonfiction, Reference, Science, Horticulture

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 2013

Reviews

[Lesbiantoinette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eu não li exatamente tudo, mas coloquei como lido porque é um livro mais acadêmico, quando eu quiser relembrar ou estudar algo em específico é só eu voltar. Acho que seria incrível ler a versão física dele, porque ele é muito lindo, infelizmente só pude ler em PDF (livro traduzido já é caro, importado então...só vendendo minha alma pra conseguir comprar).

[Dominika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skvelá knižka pre niekoho, kto si ako ja potrebuje zopakovať/dozvedieť sa niečo viac z botaniky. Okrem popisu sveta rastliniek sú tam aj komentáre o prejavoch v bežných záhradách a dvojstránky o významných (väčsinou britských) botanikoch. Obrovským plusom je jej krásne prevedenie (obrázky rastlín atď.), ktoré spríjemňovalo čítanie a preklad (oceňujem sloveso "požerkovať", ktoré si požičiam aj do bežného dňa).

[Karen Soanes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did I read this cover to cover and savor all of the gorgeous illustrations - yes I did. Even though there is a how to reward this book set of pages I read it completely throughout this fall/early winter. It is too beautiful of a book to mark up so good thing it has an excellent index because it is a book I plan on returning to as my knowledge of gardening deepens. I love that short biographies of botanists and botanical illustrators were sprinkled throughout.

[Oksana Naumchuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ну, нарешті.
Дуже складно далася мені ця книга.
Так, вона красивезна, але щось не до кінця зрозуміло, для кого ж вона написана. Якщо вона для садівників, то для чого там так багато термінів і так мало звичайних пояснень і практичних кейсів? Здивували сторінки про відомих людей у світі ботаніки. Переважно це ілюстратори, які працювали в кінці 18-го на початку 19-го століття. Так, тоді зібрати колекцію зображень рослин з цілого світу це було щось фантастичне, проте з погляду 21-го сторіччя хотілося б дізнатися про сучасних ботаніків і ті неймовірні речі, над якими вони працюють.
Водночас у книзі є багато посилань на сайти й книги, в які можна закопатися й вивчати ботаніку далі. І це прекрасно. Проте зануритися у світ рослин саме через цю книгу мені було вкрай важко.

[Agnese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Botāniķiem vai dārzkopjiem ar zināšanas koferi informācija grāmatā nešķitīs kaut kas ''oho, to gan es nezināju :D'', jo tas viss ir mācīts vidusskolā. Bet atverot un pašķirstot grāmatu jau ir saprotams, ka uzsvars likts un attēliem un krāsām. Tās dizains ir krāšņs.
Viena no tām grāmatām, ko skaisti nolikt uz tējas galdiņa un ik pa laikam, dzerot kafiju, atsvaidzināt atmiņu augu potēšanā, stādīšanā vai to uzbūvē.

[Jodi Tooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous overview of everything botanical geared to the amateur gardener. It features beautiful illustrations, demonstrations on how theory practically applies, and profiles on notable botanists. Quite a gem.

[Eric Northwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book with gorgeous illustrations. The only minor fault I could mention is the lack of a glossary for terms mentioned without explanation, but not much of a problem for those with an internet connection. Will spark a further interest in plant life.

[Tshebeletso Tjabane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to the field of Botany and it introduces many other subfields. It has improved my knowledge and understanding of plants. I gave it four stars as I felt some subjects should have being in more details.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not as practical as advertised. It went off on tangents and took circuitous routes to get to the point. I've since read two other books in the same vein and this one was the least approachable.

[Isaac Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

a cute book-- I'm no gardener, but this makes me appreciate plants a lot more.feels a bit trivia-y, really pretty drawings.

my favorite fact - pears taste as they do because of parenchyma and stone cells!

[Aileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book in Danish version (BOTANIK FOR HAVEFOLK) as a reference for my #ForagingWildFood project. I enjoyed the explainations, illustrations.

[Natty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful and clear.

[Ry Amidon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have at least a light interest in plants or gardening this would be good. Very nicely structured and great illustrations. Just the right amount of depth into botany. I liked it,

[J.T.K. Gibbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something I will have to revisit over and over again, not to mention the notes I took!

[Maddy Walock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice reference for my book.

[GuillemCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bien

[Peter Pierson · Rating 1 out of 5]

While it seems to present itself as a basic overview of botany principles for the home gardener, horticulturalist, and those wishing to up their cultivation into the level of small scale producer, I found it to be a difficult slog of a read that skipped between cartoon simplicity and quick brush strokes over complex concepts that required putting the book down repeatedly to look online for the clarification needed to make any usable sense of the information. The author asserts, at times with a hint of condescension, what are outmoded themes that reinforce more intrusive and ecologically unsound practices and views that have led to typical home gardens and lawns being resource (water, chemical fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide) consumptive and collective ecosystem wastelands. Hodge goes out of his way in the book to discount climate change as merely a minor natural cycle that gardeners may need to adjust to—and not take the well-warranted path of advocating basic practices that home gardeners can take to reduce their impacts and integrate more place based integrity in their personal horticulture.

[Elsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an abridged textbook on botany. Much familiar from high school biology. It connects the information with gardening and adds short biographiesb of notable botanists and botanical artists.
Many interesting facts such as
"... it had been known for some time that plants produce and emit soundwaves at the lower end of the audio range, within 10-240 Hz, as well as ultrasonic emissions, ranging from 20 to 300k Hz." Fascinating!
It's a very attractive book. When i have a garden in the future I will consult it.

[Jieru · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book through first-reads giveaway, and boy, am I glad I did! This is a beautiful book, proven at first sight by the cover. I love the pictures included, and the divisions of the paragraphs really helped. I have not finished reading, but overall, I'm really impressed with what I'm seeing. A definite keeper.

[Ryan Boomershine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn’t quite as approachable as the introduction makes it sound, but it is a really lovely book full of beautiful illustrations, good history, and a wide array of topics of interest to aspiring and actual gardeners. For it own part, I wish that it would be a little bit less factual, and exhibit a little more delight in the subject. I had to supply my own delight to this book.

[Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy interesante y didáctico, edición cercana.
Como bien apunta en su inicio, pretende (y consigue) ser una justa dosis de información que envuelve y comprende la jardinería; general y, especialmente, científica; no tanto una guía práctica sobre la misma.

[Natalie Buckner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Informative, with beautiful illustrations. Great book to keep around the house for gardeners, and botanists alike.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

book arrived Oct. 19th. Beautiful book with great information. Will keep book out for all to see. Thank you so much

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most beautiful, appealing book on botany. Each page is an informative masterpiece!

[Alanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

🌸💐🌺🌷🌻🌹🌻🥀🌼
Beautiful book, and I maybe retained 10% of the content. I don’t think I can fault it for that so no rating for now.