This month we`ve decided to feature a reference book that serious gardeners should not be without.

Botanica. The illustrated A-Z of over 10,000 garden plants and how to cultivate them, is a comprehensive collection of most of the garden plant groups. For most of us, this book would provide more than enough information to develop and maintain a garden in any part of the world.

The book is very well organized and easy to use. I looked up some of the unusual perennials I`ve recently acquired and some plants that I have seen in florist bouquets that I like,and was able to find all of them. Not only did I find them but I learned what zones they grow best in, their native country, their botanical name, care and cultivation and species and subspecies information.

The book has a section that explains how the information is organized and how to best find what you are looking for. There are maps of the world color coded into hardiness zones, an introduction section, an alphabetical listing of over 10,000 plants, a glossary and an index. I really like the letter tabs on the side of the pages in the plant listing section. It makes finding a particular plant extremely easy.

Botanica is not the kind of book that you will breeze through in an evening but it is definitely one you will come back to again and again as a good all round garden resource book.