The Color Encyclopedia of Hostas
Gardening Botany Horticulture Reference Shade Gardening Landscaping Perennial Plants Plant Encyclopedia
The Color Encyclopedia of Hostas by Michael Shadrack and Diana Grenfell (Timber Press, 2004) is the ultimate hard-cover reference for shade-garden enthusiasts who want to move beyond the common green-and-white varieties. 408 lavishly illustrated pages present more than 750 of the world’s most desirable hostas, photographed in situ and in close-up so gardeners can see the true leaf color, substance, and seasonal changes that nursery tags never reveal. Each cultivar entry gives mature size, parentage, registration year, and proven landscape use—information that collectors, hybridizers, and designers rely on when they need a specimen that will stay under 14 inches or a giant that can anchor a woodland edge.
What sets this edition apart is the authoritative yet accessible text: Grenfell co-founded the British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society, while Shadrack is an award-winning photographer and American Hosta Society master judge. Together they organize the encyclopedia by color—blue, green, gold, variegated, and streaked—so readers can instantly compare look-alikes such as ‘Halcyon’ vs. ‘Krossa Regal’. A 40-page introduction covers cultural details—soil preparation, slug control, sun tolerance, and division techniques—making the book equally valuable for first-time planters and collectors who already own 200 named varieties.
This clean, jacketed hardcover weighs in at just under four pounds, yet its stay-flat binding allows the 1,200-plus color photographs to be viewed side-by-side without gutter loss. Because hostas change appearance so much from emergence to late summer, the authors show sequential shots of the same cultivar at six-week intervals, eliminating the guesswork that plagues online image searches. Whether you are landscaping a city courtyard, filling a terraced shade bed, or hunting the next “must-have” miniature for a trough garden, The Color Encyclopedia of Hostas remains the most comprehensive visual resource on the market, and a single copy can save years of costly trial-and-error plant purchases.
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