Jane Taylor (2) (1944–)

Experienced gardener Jane Taylor chooses 500 garden worthy plants, discussing then through several chapters that group the plants according to category or purpose, such as trees and shrubs, climbers and wall plants, perennials, woodland, ponds and more. Following an introduction, each chapter then considers the plants individually, each plant being described along with its special merits. The book includes a comprehensive index.

Special Plants is superbly illustrated; almost every one of its 225 pages has at least one and frequently more colour photographs of the plants. The standard of the photography is excellent as is the reproduction, and they alone are enough to convince one of each plant's worth.

This is a very worthwhile book, while there are many familiar plants here there are also a good number that may well be new to the reader. With the informed and knowledgeable text and the numerous beautiful photographs this book stands out among the so many lightweights published today.… (mere)

After the introductory chapter, which considers dry and drought climates, explains how plants cope with dry climates and finally how to use such plants in the garden, the book looks at drought tolerant plants arranged in the following groups: Trees and Shrubs; Conifers; Palms and Cycads; Climbers; Perennials and Ephemerals; Bulbs; Grasses; Succulents and Xerophytes. Also included are chapters on Dry Garden Maintenance which looks at soil, planting, windbreaks, lawns and lawn substitutes and irrigation. There are lists of Plants with Special Characteristics, suggestions for Further Reading and a climate zone list.

The book is well illustrated with over 500 colour photographs, some small but many large and up to full-page in size. The plants in each category are discussed alphabetically by genus, but the individual species are not considered in any detail beyond a brief description in the running paragraph. General hints about the cultivation for each genus are provided and the zone hardiness rating for each species is almost always quoted.

With over 1,000 species included there is plenty of choice here for the gardener, but it should be noted that not all the plants are frost hardy, some will happily cope with cold climates others will require a frost free environment.

The author has written several gardening books and articles and is also a broadcaster and lecturer, she has gardened in various parts of the world with very different climates; she writes the a voice of authority. This is a most useful book, all the more so as we seem to experience increasingly dryer summers.… (mere)