Stirling Macoby's What Flower Is That?

by Stirling Macoboy

Flower book with a ton of information about flowers.

Genres: Gardening, Reference, Nonfiction

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

A love of plants seems to run in the blood of author/photographer Stirling Macoboy. He is often called Bill after his grandfather Will Stirling, an irrigation engineer who was also an enthusiastic amateur gardener. A great-great-grandfather of the same name immigrated to Australia from Scotland in the 1840s as a professional nurseryman. On Bill's father's side of the family, yet another William was William Mason, the poet, clergyman and author of the garden blockbuster of 1783, The English Garden, recently reprinted.

Whether or not you believe that green thumbs can be inherited, Bill has become an international best-selling author of garden books, including What Flower is That? which has sold over three-quarters of a million copies, What Tree is That?, What Indoor Plant is That?, The Joy of Flowers and the magnificent Colour Dictionary of Camellias, hailed world-wide as the ultimate book on that subject, and translated into several languages. Between books, Bill travels widely to photograph his favourite subjects, runs a picture library, and is garden consultant for the popular Better Homes and Gardens magazine in Australia.

Reviews

[Velvetink · Rating 5 out of 5]

great resourse!

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a gardener in North America, this book both is severely incomplete from the plants it highlights and the information it provides. The author Stirling Macoboy is Australian and perhaps for gardeners there this book might be of greater value. Most gardeners in North America will find that this book lacks many of the perennial flowers we commonly use. The plant descriptions are short lacking information on the zones where these plants thrive, size, and other specific details. The photographs are often fuzzy and poor and as a result I often didn't recognize plants I know very well. The plants presented seem to be a strange mix of tropic and temperate, many being plants I know as houseplants. I was also surprised to find many plants included which I don't believe flower in any obvious way and the book photographs don't include flowers for these plants either.

[Susan Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My go-to book for researching various plants and inspiration to know more

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book for identifying plants and flowers.