Rich attributes including vibrant colour, fragrance, and sheer variety of form make flowering shrubs the most rewarding of garden plants. Leading expert on woody plants Jim Gardiner has distilled the knowledge of several decades to come up with an incomparable pictorial reference of hardy flowering shrubs that excel in the world’s temperate-zone gardens.

The encyclopedia includes 2000 high-quality images and essential cultivation data for more than 1700 plants. The data includes size, flower colour and timing, stem colour, fruits, and autumn colour, preferred position, soil needs, pruning requirements, and, where applicable, the RHS Award of Garden Merit