Botany & Plant Sciences

If you have tried to identify wildflowers, you’ll already know exactly what is meant by the main title of this book. Although a lot of plants are relatively straightforward to recognise, many others are not. Standard wildflower books tend to provide as much guidance with identifying the easy and distinctive as they do with complex, tricky species. This ingenious book is designed to come to the rescue of the exasperated novice botanist and to help those more experienced who might be stuck on unfamiliar and complex groups.

From willows to water-crowfoots, from eyebrights to dandelion look-a-likes, all of us have struggled with baffling specimens or the seemingly cryptic. Presented here is a fresh new approach to identifying difficult plants by giving you an understanding of the biology behind their complexity. In simple language, you will be directed to the particular parts of the plant that you need to look at most closely. The tabular keys are more user friendly and evolutionarily valid than conventional dichotomous keys, which are often confusing and unwieldy. Each chapter contains illustrations of the plants’ key diagnostic features, rather than of entire plants. Other novel aspects include coverage of the historical recognition of complexity within each group, which is used to inform debate about the level of resolution that may be most appropriate for your needs.

This accessible guide is the perfect chance to get to grips with that challenging group you keep saving for ‘next year’ or for untangling a botanical mystery which keeps repeating itself.

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Cultivate your passion to grow

In a 1625 essay, Francis Bacon called gardens “the purest of human pleasures,” and what was true then is even more so today―gardening can give you a serene refuge from the short-lived (and noisy!) distractions of modern life and a fertile basis for satisfaction that will bear fruit long into the future. To help you get started on your own leafy paradise, the new edition of Gardening Basics For Dummies grounds you thoroughly in the fundamentals of soil, flowers, trees, and lawns―and helps you get to know the names of what you’re planting along the way!

In a friendly, straightforward style, professional horticulturist Steven A. Frowine distills 50 years of gardening experience to show you how to start growing your expertise―from planning out your own mini-Eden and planting your first annuals, bulbs, and perennials through to laying the perfect lawn, raising tasty crops, and even introducing fish to your landscape! He also digs into the grubbier side of horticultural life, making sure you’re as prepared as any seasoned farmer to deal with pests, weeds, and other challenges the earth will throw up at you.

• Create your ideal garden plan
• Become an expert on common flora with definitions and descriptions
• Know how to look after your soil
• Get creative with butterfly and children’s gardens

Whether you’re beginning with a tiny garden in a box, or beautifying your property with tree-lined groves and flowery bowers, this is the ideal introduction to the intense pleasure of gardening and will make you happy to reap what you’ve sown!

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Foraging for mushrooms with John Cage: writing, art, photography and ephemera from an idiosyncratic chapter in the composer’s life Imagined as an extended mushroom-foraging expedition, John Cage: A Mycological Foray gathers together Cage’s mushroom-themed compositions, photographs, illustrations and ephemera. Indeterminacy Stories and other writings by Cage are interwoven throughout the first volume within a central essay examining Cage’s enduring relationship with mycology. Also included is a transcript of Cage’s 1983 performance, MUSHROOMS et Variationes. The second volume is the inaugural reproduction of Cage’s 1972 portfolio, Mushroom Book, authored in collaboration with illustrator Lois Long and botanist Alexander H. Smith. Readers are thus drawn through the landscape of Cage’s mycologically centred oeuvre and interests, discovering assorted works, images, compositions, philosophies and ephemera, as one might encounter assorted fungi and flora while foraging. John Cage: A Mycological Foray constitutes a new, idiosyncratic chapter in Cage’s oeuvre, a departure from the composer’s more established narrative. American composer and music theorist John Cage (1912–92) was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music and a leading figure of the postwar avant-garde. His influence extended to the realms of dance, poetry, performance and visual art.

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The official Royal Horticultural Society week-to-week desk diary contains a beautiful collection of plant illustrations, making this the perfect gift for all gardeners and plant lovers. 

The Royal Horticultural Society Diary 2025 brings together a selection of rare and beautiful works by German–Swiss artist Christian Gottlieb Geissler (1729–1814) from the RHS Lindley Collections.

The diary features work by Geissler from the lavish publication Tabulae phytographicae by the Swiss botanist Johannes Gessner (1709–1790). The book became a valuable resource for students and professionals alike, as well as connoisseurs of botanical illustration.

This beautifully produced diary is illustrated in colour throughout, with a silk ribbon marker and internal storage pocket, so you can organise your week in style.

​This desk diary is perfect for use in office, or to add a spot of colour to your home-working set up, the perfect gift for any avid gardener or nature lover!

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It is crucial that the most expert advice is taken when hunting for mushrooms, and this authoritative new handbook offers clear, practical information for accurate identification. A clear introduction explains everything a mushroom picker needs to know, followed by a fully-illustrated guide of the most popular edible wild mushrooms, with storage and cooking tips. Their identifying features and typical habitats are described. In addition the book presents and describes the poisonous and potentially deceptive species which the mushroom picker is most likely to come across.

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