Ann Reilly

I originally planned to skim this book for possible useful information and then discard it, but when I saw that it had colour pictures of the emergent seedlings of every kind of flower and vegetable that Parks Seeds sold in 1978, it suddenly became a valuable reference book and earned a place on the bookshelf. That's hard information to find even online. It's too bad that some of the plants that we grow in North America today were exotic and unheard-of in 1978 (Arugula is the first one that comes to mind, alphabetically speaking), but it's still pretty extensive; if only there were a 21st century edition! It also separates the edible plants from the far larger section on flowers; although I grow a number of the flowers for culinary use, it's still a convenience to have the book arranged in this way.

There are notes on how to germinate and sow hundreds of varieties of seeds, and in fairly good detail. About as much information as you get on a well-annotated seed packet. The book also contains chapters on seed germination in general, a glossary, a hardiness map that does not stop abruptly at the U.S. border (three cheers for that!), an index and all sorts of information that you'd hope to find somewhere in a gardening book. Definitely a keeper.… (mehr)