Horticulturists, students, and dedicated home gardeners will be familiar with Armitage's authority on this topic from his more technical Manual of Annuals, Biennials, and Half-Hardy Perennials. That volume was singled out as a winner of the Choice Academic Book Award, the American Horticultural Society Book Award, and the Garden Writers of America Golden Globe Award. While this new offering is a perfect pictorial companion to the Manual, it also stands alone with its personal commentary and inspiring advice on the most interesting, important, or overlooked plants. Armitage selects proven specimens from nearly 200 genera of plants and evaluates their garden-worthiness and sheer beauty. With humor, authority, and a wealth of practical experience, Armitage offers invaluable insights into those plants that truly earn their keep — and a few that do not! He has illustrated the entries with more than 1300 stunning color photos, rounded out by more than two dozen helpful lists of plants suitable for particular situations or uses, including plants for cool-summer areas, plants for dry situations, edible plants, container plants, shade plants, vines, and flowers for cutting.

Widely regarded as one of the world's foremost horticulturists, Allan M. Armitage is a professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, where he teaches, conducts research, and runs the University of Georgia Horticulture Gardens. He travels widely as a lecturer and consultant, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Medal of Honor from the Garden Club of America and the National Educator Award from the American Horticultural Society. He is the author of nine other books. Armitage was honored with a Quill and Trowel award from the Garden Writers Association of America, and Greenhouse Grower magazine named him one of the ten most influential people or organizations—ever—in the floriculture industry for “encouraging growers to expand their markets with new annuals, cut flowers, and perennials.”

"Nobody knows annuals better than Allan Armitage."—George Weigel, People Places Plants, Summer 2004

 "Armitage is not only crammed with great information - the photos showing mature growth habit of many of the plants is invaluable."