Dorling Kindersley's new garden guides are excellently produced and well laid-out quick reference guides to four popular subjects - shrubs and climbers, perennials, annuals and biennials, and fuchsias. As befits as DK publications, they are lavishly illustrated and clearly written, making them ideal for beginner gardeners or as dip-into or look-up references for more advanced greenfingers. Commencing with an illustrated look at choosing, planting, propagating and general aftercare, the book then proceeds to an A-Z colour photographed directory of the plants themselves. Each given their own page, full descriptions and cultivation requirements are given alongside a list of alternative varieties. Cheap and indispensable, they would make the perfect gift for the novice gardener or to yourself, to carry round as an aide memoire in the garden centres. - Lucy Watson
