BOOK REVIEWS

Growing Gardens for Free
A Plant Propagation Guide For New Zealand

Geoff Bryant
David Bateman Ltd
$NZ39.95, $AUS31.95

WHY pay for plants when it is easy to grow them for nothing? In Growing Gardens for Free, more than 500 full colour photographs are used to illustrate both practical step-by-step propagation techniques and the plants themselves.

There are also extensive tables covering 1000 plants with information on which propagation technique to use - raising from seed, taking cuttings, grafting or division - including details of temperature requirements, time to germination/strike, percentage strike rate and best time of year to propagate. The invaluable information has been gleaned by the author from more than 25 years as a propagator and hybridiser is shared in the clear and concise text.

Geoff Bryant has a background in horticulture, and worked in a nursery propagating and hybridising popular ornamental shrubs. His special love is rhododendrons and azaleas. More recently he has worked fulltime as a garden writer and photographer, both on his own books and then the Botanica series.

Growing Gardens for Free is a most comprehensive guide to general propagation and highly recommended for gardeners wanting an essential garden reference.

Weekend Gardener, Issue 117, 2003, Page 30

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