100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names

by Diana Wells

Book Overview

From Baby Blue Eyes to Silver Bells, from Abelia to Zinnia, every flower tells a story. Gardening writer Diana Wells knows them all. Here she presents one hundred well-known garden favorites and the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565121384
• ISBN13: 9781565121386
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Algonquin
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

She love it.

This little but informative book was a hit for my mom-in-law. She thought she knew all about flowers, but no. She was amazed at all the facts in this book. A real nice present for flower lovers.!!

Wonderful, charming book

This is a wonderful, charming book. Each section provides an interesting anecdotal essay about the flower it covers. However, do not expect completeness (of course, there are many more than 100 flowers out there, and more than could be said about each than is possible in a page or two). Also, don't look for consistent information about flower naming or morphology. Rather, these are very personal essays on each flower. The essays usually include some historical information that has to do with how the flower was named. At times, this format feel forced--I would have liked the author to be able to paint with a broader brush, as I sense she wanted to. And I also think that of the 100 flowers there are a few she doesn't really like that much. (Well, me too!). These minor objections to the form of the book aside, it's really incredibly sweet, and very educational. 5 Stars plus.

A delightful little book!

I got this on a lark because (1) I adore plants and (2) as a linguistics major, I adore words. This book turned out to be a tasty treat on both counts.The author promises word origins & faithfully provides with every entry, along with a sketch rendering of the plant. But --though it pains me to admit it-- not EVERY plant is blessed with a thrill-packed tale of linguistic derivation, so Ms. Wells wisely digresses, peppering her descriptions with attributed stories of interesting events and rumors associated with each plant. The overall effect is a gossipy piece with enough hard information to keep most armchair "researchers" happy.

First quick but comprehensive study of flower naming

Gives the origins, migration, hybridization and folklore with fascinating obscure stories that some of us have not read before. Explanations of how folklore began and how some of these flowers were discovered and migrated to where they are now in the world. Interesting observations of reasons why flowers were carried to, named and accepted in various countries.