Agaves, yuccas, and related plants : a gardener's guide /

For gardeners or plant collectors in the Americas, the Irishes, desert gardener and photographer, offer authoritative guidance in the study of these interesting plants. The detailed historical introduction provides background information on yucca and agave classification and its development. The main body of the book is made up of detailed descriptions of genera and species; the species descriptions provide vegetative and floral details along with indications of blooming times, distributions, methods of propagation, and requirements for cultivation. Species are illustrated with a series of color photographs supplemented by a few line drawings. A chapter devoted to horticulture and cultivation includes a chart detailing the cold tolerance of selected species. Readers will learn in that chapter that while most of these plants are associated with deserts and gardens of the southwestern US and Mexico, many also have a long and successful history in other parts of the world. With this well-written and documented book one can seek and identify these plants in the wild or tame them for the garden. It is an admirable blend of general information with scientific and technical detail. General readers. D. H. Pfister; Harvard University