The danger with this book is that is title may well put off many potential readers. The vast majority of gardeners do not see themselves as botanist: but spending hours studying the plants they grow, can’t grow and aspire to grow. As a gardener you consider the plants shape, colour, needs development and reproduction; yet little thought is given to the science under pinning these characteristics. All too often the science bit it shied away from as being too difficult or not relevant; more likely than not because we were put of the subject at school. The thing is gardening is to a large part applied botany and to deny it is not only short sighted but also making life harder. The problem is at first botany can be off putting in its apparent complexity and little is available in the way of bridging this gap. Brian Capon has set out to do just that with this book.

A professional botanist by training and a gardener by inclination, he has set out to provide a means of introducing gardeners to the how and why of plants. In doing so he has created a book that fills a real gap in gardening literature.

His years teaching botany, often to non-botanists, has given him a natural ability to do mystify his subject. Like all good teachers he has a natural gift for bring his subject to life and sharing his enthusiasm. The different aspects of the subject are approached in a logical order and the book is kept sufficiently concise so that it dose not intimidate those new to the field. It is well illustrated with photographs, line drawings and examples to add understanding. Though no part of the book can go into great depth, doing so would be counter productive, it ends with a list of further reading to encourage the reader to delve further into the subject.

Hopefully the present upsurge in interest in science will encourage gardeners to set aside there feat of it and temp them into learning a little bit more about the plants they grow. The book will not necessarily make them botanist; but it will make them better gardeners.