Rhododendrons and Azaleas - A Colour Guide

An indispensable handbook for rhododendron buyers and growers! Brings up to date Harold Greer's rhododendron bible that is still useful but does not deal with many of the new species and hybrids. Funny and frank and filled with useful advice! If you had to buy one book on rhododendrons (and azaleas) this would be your best choice.

Over one of my favorites in every way . A very high class publication with excellent information !

Beautiful color and many varieties illustrated individually with photos. Obviously British from the garden photographs and some spellings. First section of the book on rhododendron types, culture, and diseases (with photos) is excellent. Not highly technical and obviously could not cover the thousands of varieties available. However, our garden club purchased this book to donate to the local library in memory of a recently deceased member. It certainly is a suitable memorial.

It is a great reference book, with lovely pictures. I wish it had a picture for every variety, but the book would be huge!

High quality and very informative.

A book on Rhododendrons and Azaleas describes in detail the plants including many of the newer hybrids. Concise descriptions with color photos enhance the pages. The author also lets the reader know specifically what he thinks. For example, this plant might belong in the "rubbish heap."

I would not recommend this book for several reasons. The author tries to cover too many groups of Rhododendrons from Tsutsusi to Elepidotes, etc. This approach alone makes the book impractical. The book would be much better suited if it were divided into separate volumes. For example book one might cover Elepidotes, book two could cover Lepidotes and book three Tsutsusi etc. In other words, the genus Rhododendron is much too vast to be covered by this superficial guide. The other big problem is that less than 1/2 of the described varieties are accompanied by photos. Many of these photos are not of optimum quality and lack the necessary detail for identification of an unknown cultivar. Many cultivated Rhododendron varieties are very similar in appearance. It is paramount to see the markings in the upper lobe of the corolla or limb (individual flower). These markings (maculation) are spots or sometimes bands of different colors. This feature alone will often separate similar cultivars from one another. There are about 28,000 cultivated Rhododendrons and about 1,200 known species. This makes a single book on this subject rather impracticable. This is especially the case for the more serious enthusiast So unless you just like pretty photos, this book will not aid your detailed study of Rhododendrons. By the way, all Azaleas are Rhododendrons but not all Rhododendrons are Azaleas.

Nice book on rhododendrons and azaleas and well written. TWCL

Es ist ein ganz tolles uebersichtliches Buch ! Die Fotos sind sehr autentisch, was sehr wichtig ist für die Identifikation der Pflanzen.

How many times have you been around the nurseries and Garden Centres and seen the same old azaleas and rhododendrons on offer and succumbed by colour and lack of choice you make a purchase? Stop right there. Get this book. It is absolutely fantastic and takes you on a fabulous, historical and colourful journey into the world or rhodos and azaleas; garden centre stock will never be the same again. Use in conjunction with the Plant Finder to find your nearest stockist, but do take note of the frost hardiness zones! I bought this as an early Christmas present for my Mum, needless to say I shall have to find something else; the copy is now well thumbed as I've been burning the midnight oil, totally enamoured, and I've only had it a few days. It's worth every penny and many congratulations to Kenneth Cox, its' a stunning book. Only trouble is, I've got a shortlist of a 150 rhodos and azaleas and only an acre of garden......

Excellent livre, très complet, sur les azalées et rhododendrons. Quel dommage qu'il n'existe pas en langue française !

Beautifully illustrated book well written, covering a broad range of rhododendrons and azaleas, exactly what I was looking for.

An authoritative and comprehensive guide to choosing and growing Rhododendrons written by one of the leading Rhododendron nurserymen. The book contains many good quality colour images.