ALPINES: THE ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY by Clive Innes. 1995. Timber Press, 133 SW Second Ave., Suite 450, Portland OR 97204-9743, (503) 227-2878; FAX (503) 227-3070. $39.95. 192 pages, 957 color photos, 8 1/2 x 10 3/4 ", hardcover

Reviewed by Charles Hardman

For over twenty years, Timber Press has published gardening and botanical books (Dioscorides Press is the botanical publishing arm of Timber) characterized by their quality, beauty and style. Timber knows how to present good, solid information combined with a flare that tantalizes and teases forcing one want to read on and on as the midnight oil burns and the eyelids droop.

Clive Innes' Alpines, The Illustrated Dictionary is a remarkable book with so many color pictures, informative descriptions, and brief, no-words-wasted gardening and propagating suggestions it's hard to imagine how anyone could work so much useful stuff into "only" 192 pages.

One could be forgiven if at first glance this book were dismissed as merely a beautiful coffee table book. However, a peek between its covers convinces otherwise. Each section of the book is presented alphabetically. Each plant is presented in full color picture. Each botanical plant name has beneath it the name of the plant family from which it springs.

And each brief description, growing instruction and propagation suggestion beneath the plants' pictures is succinct, wasting no words yet providing the reader with plenty of information should he or she wish to include the plant in his/her own garden plans.

Luckily for bulb lovers, many plants considered alpines grow from bulbs, corms, rhizomes or tubers, so you'll find plenty of 'bulbous" plants in this book.

The word "alpine" for most of us probably conjures up an image such as: A small or tiny plant that grows high in the mountains where it is subjected to harsh weather conditions. Well, sort of. Fortunately, the inside fold flap on the front cover breaks the boundaries of that stereotype by informing us: "What constitutes an alpine is less easy to define. Alpines may be found at low altitudes in warm Mediterranean climates, on the mountain slopes of Saudi Arabia, or high in the mountains of the Alps, the Andes, the Sierra Nevada, and most other ranges around the world."

In fact, while most of the plants presented in this book are small or tiny, a very few such as Acanthus molllis at "60 cm (24 in) or more tall", Agapanthus praecox and A. walshii with leaves "60 cm (24 in) or longer" and Boophane disticha "60 cm (24 in) wide", and a brief list of others do not fit into my own definition of "small" or "tiny". However, "small" and "tiny" are not entirely what alpines are all about. Seeing the four species just mentioned included in this book helped me expand my concept of just what "alpine" means. The same can be said of a number of other species included: they're compact giving the appearance that they got that way while adapting to high altitudes or harsh weather conditions. Yet compact, small or tiny plants can originate in low elevations under weather conditions which aren't so bad after all. "High" and "harsh" were two more words I now give less "alpine" credence to after enjoying this book for a few evenings.

You'll see pictures of plants in this book that you'll never grow. Not because you won't want to! The fact is there are so many lovely plants featured in this book that a whole series of gardens would be required to hold them all.

Some readers may find a genera or two lacking from this book that they wish had been included. For instance, I would like to have seen at least one Dudleya from our own Southern California mountains and perhaps a Roscoea or two from the Himalayas. Lest anyone think this is offered as criticism, let me hasten to say that this is merely a personal observation and with the wealth of exquisite pictures and descriptions Clive Innes has included, there is more information within these pages already than any of us will be able to absorb in many nights' worth of midnight oil and drooping eyelids.

Mr. Innes acknowledges Harry Hay, Lancelot Henslow and Peter Stiles for contributing pictures to the completion of this fine work.

I recommend this book to all bulb enthusiasts seeking to expand their gardening horizons and bulb growing enjoyment.