Book

[Liz M]

Well done, Paul. I look forward to seeing this.

[habanerocat]

There's a few books out there already and they all list hardy plants. Unfortunately these plants are not easy find. They talk about hardy clones but none that I know of list location data or field numbers. I think that kind of specific information would be a great addition to such a book.

Best of luck with it anyway and be sure to let us know when it's out.

[Paul in Essex]

Thanks Mike and Liz!

There's a few books out there already and they all list hardy plants. Unfortunately these plants are not easy find. They talk about hardy clones but none that I know of list location data or field numbers. I think that kind of specific information would be a great addition to such a book.

Best of luck with it anyway and be sure to let us know when it's out.

Thanks. I'd be interested to know what these books are as, to my knowledge, there aren't any UK-centric books on gardening with succulents. Sensible ones, at least. I recall one 20-odd years ago by the Glenhirst Cacti people but this isn't going to be like that.

[habanerocat]

The only UK book I have is by Shirley-Anne Bell. An A4 book. Is that the Glenhirst Cacti people book?

The other US books are by John N. Spain and Leo J. Chance. The first is small and well worn. The second I'm embarrassed to say looks hardly opened, but looks good enough to be fair to it.

[Paul in Essex]

Yes, that's the one, by Shirley-Anne Bell. As I say, mine isn't going to be very much like that, really.

I have those two other books, which are excellent, plus a raft of others - particularly good are 'High and Dry' by Robert Nold and 'Dry Climate Gardening' published by the Huntingdon Botanic Garden. The trouble is that books on growing cacti and succulents by US growers for the US market are always interesting but the climates are so very different to here that making comparisons is all but impossible. For sure a plant listed as only hardy down to USDA z9 isn't going to work in pretty much anywhere in the UK but even plants stated as hardy down to USDA z7 can be touch and go here because of our temperate climate. The roughest of guides, really.

On your other point, my goodness in an ideal world wouldn't that be great! Collection numbers and detailed habitat data for all the plants we grow would be perfect and take the guess work/trial and error out of so much. Sadly real world is very different. For stuff I've seen in habitat in Mexico I can say this to an extent but, beyond that, we are lucky to find plants for general sale that are named properly, let alone anything else Someone young enough might indeed start doing that which would add to the increasing amount of useful data out there.

[Mal L]

Congratulations Paul. Great news. Looking forward to it very much - it will definitely fill a gap in the available literature. Just got to wait very patiently now!

[Paul in Essex]

Thanks Mal.

Sometime in 2024, I think. Seems a long way off.

[guthrie]

Congratulations, hopefully they will pay you as well.

(I know a number of authors and how difficult the business can be)

[Paul in Essex]

Thank you I get royalties, some of which are up front. But not much