Since their first book was published in America in 1979, exactly 20 years ago, a generation of gardeners and landscape architects have learned the tricks of the trade from Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix. Their large format books on everything from perennials and shrubs to trees are indispensible references for all professional gardeners. Now, in these new user-friendly small format books, designed for amateur gardeners, they share at last with less-experienced gardners their knowledge and expertise.The purpose of these books is to help home gardeners choose -- from the hundreds of available species -- what to plant in their garden. The idea is that if you want old roses in your garden, or wysteria to climb up the wall of your house, or mint for summer drinks, you will find yourself overwhelmed by the number of possibilities. These books identify the differences between the various options and give brief, entertaining histories of the plant's past use, and of its optimal growing environment. They also provide clear and useful planting tips.These books are written for amateur gardeners, not botanists, so the use of technical terms is kept to a minimum. Both common names and latin names of plants are given in the text and index so that ordering plants from catalogues is as simple as possible. Visually stunning, with detailed, easy to follow planting and growing tips, they combine the skills for which the authors are most renowed: the combination of beautifully detailed color photography and lively, authoritative text packed with information.