A Plantsman's Paradise: Travels in China - Hardcover

Roy Lancaster

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1851495150 ISBN 13: 9781851495153

Publisher: Garden Art Press, 2008

Synopsis

China truly is a plantsman's paradise: it is so rich in variety that there are upwards of 3,000 native plants on a single mountain in China - compared to around 2,000 in the whole of the British Isles. And, in the province of Yunnan alone, there are 137 species of oaks and oak relatives - in Britain we have just 2!

This book successfully combines a most enjoyable and detailed account of the well-known author's many journeys through China. First and foremost, Travels in China provides a practical assessment of the Chinese plants that are either of ornamental merit or botanical interest to gardeners in the West. Roy Lancaster follows in the footsteps of the great Victorian plant hunters and describes, in this, his magnum opus, some 1,000 different plants in their natural habitat. He provides an eminently readable account of a fascinating country, its people, and the plants that have done so much to enrich the gardens of Europe and North America. Nearly 1,000 of Lancaster's own attractive and colourful photographs illustrate the text, showing the wealth of Chinese plants in the wild and in Western cultivation: the rare, the exotic and the surprisingly familiar. The informative text is interspersed with fascinating descriptions and anecdotes from his travels.

About this title

Synopsis:

This book successfully combines a most enjoyable and detailed account of the well-known author's many journeys through China. First and foremost, "Travels in China" provides a practical assessment of the plants that are either of ornamental merit or botanical interest to gardeners in the West. Roy Lancaster describes some 1,000 different plants in their natural habitat and provides an eminently readable account of a fascinating country, its people, and the plants that have enriched the gardens of Europe and North America. Hundreds of Lancaster's own attractive and colourful photographs are reproduced, interspersed with fascinating descriptions and anecdotes from his travels. This is a book about plants from a country so rich in variety that there are 50 per cent more species on one mountain in China than there are in the whole of the British Isles. Indeed, the wide range of climatic conditions in a country as vast as China makes this book relevant to all gardeners, be they from Norway or Spain, the United Kingdom or Canada.

About the Author:

Roy Lancaster has had a long and distinguished career as a plantsman. A schoolboy interest in the flora of the district led to his first job in the Bolton Parks Department; and his subsequent spell with the army in Malaya resulted in a collection of over 1,000 plant specimens from the tropical rainforest. He has been a member of the Royal Horticultural Society for over 40 years and, in 1988, received their highest award, The Victoria Medal of Honour. In 1998 he was awarded the OBE for his services to Horticulture. He is a founder member and a Vice-President of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens and in 2002 received The Garden Writers' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. Roy is known internationally for his writing, lecturing and television work.

About this edition

• Publisher: Garden Art Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1851495150
• ISBN 13: 9781851495153
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 512