The Gardener's Encyclopaedia of New Zealand Native Plants

Forest and Bird, Issue 295, 1 February 2000, Page 46

The Gardener's Encyclopaedia of New Zealand Native Plants

by

and

Yvonne Cave

Valda

320pp, Godwit,

Auckland 1999, hardback RRP$69.95 By illustrating nearly a thousand plants, Yvonne Cave has provided a framework for choosing native flowers and shrubs for the garden. Valda Paddison has provided the botanical notes looking at plants genus by genus. She indicates the natural range or preferred conditions, for many, but recommends a more detailed guide such as Lawrie Metcalf’s The Propagation of New Zealand Native Plants for cultivation. The photographic section of the book, some 160 pages, generally illustrates flowers or ornamental features such as seed heads. There are sections on "Trees, shrubs and climbers’, ‘Herbaceous plants’, and ‘Ferns’. The excellent pictures well suggest the texture, colour and form of the native plants. There are some varieties developed from the original stock, among such as the hebes, rata and pohutukawa, but mostly those illustrated are the original natives. The wonderful choices available among our more unusual plants are indicated in photographs of insecteating drosera, some orchids and ‘bidibidi’. This is a beautifully produced book, particularly useful to anyone wanting to compare plants for an assemblage of native species in the garden.