This is a fascinating book and I was thrilled to find it at our nearest Lee Valley store marked down to $3 CDN from £30. However, it quickly turned out to be more expensive than it originally appeared, a bit high-maintenance one might say, as I felt compelled to seek out some of the references he cites!

Review for: The Explorer's Garden: Shrubs and Vines from the Four Corners of the World

Following the foreword by another plant explorer Roy Lancaster, Dan Hinkley write about a number of plants through 28 chapters, the book also includes a list mail-order sources for plants in various parts of the world, a glossary, bibliography and a comprehensive index.

The plants discussed, or more appropriately "discovered" include: the Rununculids; climbing Aconites; Actaea, Bessia and Cimicifuga; Hepatica; Thalictrum; Berberidaceous; Corydalis; woodland Poppies; Rheums; Cardamine, Pachyphragma and Wasabia; Triosteum; Aralias; Umbellifers; Cardiandra, Mukdenia and Kirengeshoma; Saxifrages; Rodgersia ad Darmera; Gunnera; Lathyrus; hardy Geraniums; Mandragora and Scopolia; Omphalodes and Myosotidium; Syneilesis and Ainsliaca; Asarumm and Saruma; Arisaema and Pinella; Solomon's Seals; Cardiocrinum; Helonias and Heloniopsis; Paris, Trillidium and Scopliopus. (Hope I've spelt them all correctly!).

Around 200 plants are illustrated in colour photographs throughout the book, mostly half-page in size. In the extensive accompanying text Hinkley writes with enthusiasm and from personal experience, this is not second-hand information but a gardener and explorer writing with passion about what he loves adn ahving seen these plants in the natural habitat. The chapters usually follow the same patters: a general dicussion of the genus including growing them, followed by descriptions of a number of the species and concluding with notes on Hardiness, Cultivation and Propagation.

This is a fascinating book that is bound to introduce the reader to many new and desirable plants. The photographs are very good, showing the plants clearly without glamorising them. There are few if any plants here that are garden prima-donnas, but there are many plants that have a refined quality and air of distinction that makes them very appealing and garden worthy. I would be very surprised if and true gardener did not come away from this book with a list of must have plants to add to their garden. ( )