BOOK REVIEWS

Lilies

Scott Appell
FF Metro, distributed by Bookwise International
$NZ49.95

LILIES, the book, is lavish. It's also large - huge, in fact, in format. It's the first hefty coffee table book in the MetroBooks range, which also includes the soon-to-be released Tulips and The Rose.

Garden writer Scott Appell is Director of Education for the New York horticultural society and his brief introduction to this pictorial and poetic volume traces the taxonomy of a plant that has captivated the human race since at least 3500BC.

"Lilies have endured for millennia and it appears they will continue to seduce us for ever," he concludes.

The photography in this book is, for the most part, magnificent, the definition of the flowers holding up remarkably, considering the enormous pages. The colour is a tribute to the Singapore printers who have managed to attain a quality that the price belies.

The verse on each illustration's facing page includes some gems, too. Perhaps a favourite is from that old seer, William Blake:

"The modest rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn,
While the lilly white shall in love delight
Nor a thorn, nor a threat, stain her beauty bright."

For lily aficionados this book is a must, and for gardeners generally, it is a joy to pore over.

Weekend Gardener, Issue 111, November 28-December 11, 2002, Page 30

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH