Almost all flowers are lovely at the height of their bloom, but that flourishing state is only fleeting. What does the plant offer the rest of the time? What does it look like when its blooms are in bud, preparing to open, in full flower, starting to fade, as a seedhead or as foliage? Dazzling, sumptuous color photographs and evocative prose answer those questions for the California poppy, clary sage, candytuft, love-in-a-mist, and six more of the most continuously gorgeous flowering annuals and biennials around. Extraordinary close-ups picture every stage of each plant's development in full glory, while the text affords precise information on its development, dimensions of its flowers and foliage, and the conditions under which it thrives, as well as accounts of its cultural, historical, and possible folkloric significance.
A delight to page through, this luminous, inspiring volume takes the guesswork out of gardening.,Almost all flowers are lovely at the height of their bloom, but that flourishing state is only