The purpose of the RHS Plant Finder is to put gardeners in touch with suppliers of plants ‐ garden plants. (I once thought the Plant Finder was a guide to wild flowers! Maybe the publishers should make this clearer.) The book is divided into two related sections: Plants and Nurseries. The former, a massive 750‐page section, lists some 70,000 plant names against which are noted a series of nursery codes. These codes relate to the details of some 850 nurseries/suppliers listed in the second section. This is the 13th annual edition of the Plant Finder, first compiled by Chris Philip in 1987, and is the third edition to be published by Dorling Kindersley and the RHS. Although basically the same style and content as its predecessors, some internal reorganisation has taken place.
The first flower listed is Abelia ‐ “Abghop”. A symbol tells us it is a new or amended synonym or cross‐reference. We are referred to A. x grandiflora Hopleys = “Abghop”. Further down the Abelias we come to x grandiflora (the x standing for hybrid genus) and eight down we find Hopleys ‐ “Abghop”. Against this entry we find the code LHop. In the Nursery section under L (for London area) we find Hopleys Plants Ltd of Much Hadham in Hertfordshire. En passant we learn, by deciphering symbols, that the sub‐species grandiflora received The Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit, and that there is a national collection for Abelias. As for Hopleys we learn the address details, opening times, what credit cards they accept, the cost of their catalogue, their specialities, and where they are on a sequence of maps at the end of the book.
The profusion of species and sub‐species, the cryptic symbols and codes, the Latin names, not to mention the jargon specific to gardeners and plantsmen, do not make an easy task for the compilers, but they provide ample guidance and the page layouts are clear. Supplementary keys to the work include notes on nomenclature, details of particular plant collectors, the classification of genera, reverse synonyms, an essay on the naming of plants, a bibliography which includes readings for individual genera, and the botanical names for fruit and vegetables. The endpapers carry adverts.
My many gardening staff tell me that The Plant Finder is essential stock for general libraries and I will get lynched if I fail to provide it! I can see why. This is a fact‐filled low‐priced compendium of easily‐used esoterica for the legion of plant seekers.
