The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses: Sedges, Rushes, Restios, Cat-tails, and Selected Bamboos

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"The best book on the subject. Fabulously illustrated, it takes the guesswork out of selecting and caring for these beautiful plants."

—Maureen Gilmer, HGTV.com

"This hybrid of serious reference and stop in your tracks photographs will turn your mowers into growers."

—National Gardener

"Rich color photographs and evocative prose effectively illustrate Darke’s understanding of grasses and their uses. ... The extensive individual grass entries are outstanding."

—American Gardener

"Invaluable to professional landscape designers as well as serious home gardeners"

—Country Living Gardener

"An authoritative and inspiring guide to landscaping with grasses ... Darke’s clear and accessible text offers instructions and ideas for both home gardeners and landscape professionals. The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses is an essential acquisition and core title for all personal, professional, and academic horticultural library reference book collections."

—Bookwatch

"Fabulously illustrated, Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses takes the guesswork out of selecting and caring for these beautiful plants."

—Maureen Gilmer, Scripps Howard News Service

"The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses by Rick Darke is a wonderful book."

—Linda Cobb, Spartanburg Herald-Journal

"All I can say is thank goodness Rick quit his full–time job ... All his books are thorough and well written. This book was long overdue and needed by those wanting to use ornamental grasses in landscape."

—Winston Dunwell, University of Kentucky HortMemo

"A stimulating guide to landscaping with grasses. The clear and accessible text offers instructions and ideas for both home gardeners and landscape professionals. The rich color photographs are works of art."

—Coni Tarquini, Hardy Plant

"Darke ... employs an artistic, almost lyrical writing style throughout, complementing the beauty of the 721 color photographs."

—January Adams, American Reference Books Annual

"This is a fine book for the novice and master gardener alike."

—Ron Hall, Islands' Weekly

"This book is more than a tremendous reference. It is a visual feast."

—Marilyn Brown, Gardener for the Prairies

"A full-scale reference work, as well as a beautiful book for the coffee table. Really a wonderful book."

—Ann Milovsoroff, Pappus

"The book draws the reader from page to page with captivating color photographs."

—Diane B. Rhodes, American Reference Books Annual

"A 350-page treasure of pictures and information."

—Eileen Beal, Log Homes Illustrated

"This unique book of ornamental grasses of diverse climates is highly recommmended for gardeners of varied persuasions, landscape designers."

—William Burk, E-Streams

"If any one horticulturist has realised the potential of grasses it is Rick Darke, the former curator of the spectacular Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, USA. This encyclopedia is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and beautifully illustrated work on ornamental grasses to date."

—Mark Griffiths, Garden (Peterborough)

"Mr Darke’s book reflects many years of experience with the plants he writes about ... He is obviously passionate about these plants, and his enthusiasm is infectious. The encyclopedic part of this book is a great success."

—Allen Lacy, Homeground

"You will never doubt the spectacular beauty and the amazing diversity of grasses — or their place in the 'wild' landscape after seeing this book."

—Kathi Keville, American Herb Association Quarterly Newsletter

"By far, the most learned and most useful [book on grasses]."

—Hardy Plant Society of Oregon Newsletter

"The most thorough investigation to date into the plants that have changed the look of American gardens. ... Darke has included plants I have never been able to find in other books. ... Most A to Z guides have a lineup of mug shots, but every one of Darke’s photographs is a thoughtfully composed work of art."

—House Beautiful

"As the photos on these pages show, Western designers have found beautiful new ways to integrate grasses into the garden."

—Sharon Cohoon, Sunset

"It is a marvelously inclusive and authoritative reference from start to finish."

—Thomas Fischer, Horticulture

"We haven't had a new and thorough treatment of garden-worthy grasses for years, let alone one so finely photographed."

—Seattle Times

"The photographs are both exciting and informative. Details of foliage and flowers are generously highlighted."

—Pacific Horticulture

"Invaluable to professional landscape designers as well as serious home gardeners."

—Country Living Gardener

"This book is a model when it comes to the encyclopedic portraiture of garden plants, showing its specimens individually in field-guide style and in garden settings. [Darke] also supplies detailed information about the culture and propagation of grasses."

—New York Times

"If you love ornamental grasses and you're looking for one book on the subject, this is it."

—Cynthia Boyd, The Express

"The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses is an inspiring work of art and workhorse reference, a veritable treasure for landscape and horticultural professionals who are in just the right mood for more than just a little bit of awe."

—Boox Review

"This book combines the beauty of a 'coffee table' book with the practical knowledge it would take many other books on grasses to comprise ... Mr. Darke has created a very impressive and worthwhile book, both for its informative text and its inspirational photos. And if you have never been enthusiastic about gardening with grasses before, you will be after seeing this book."

—Mary Tucker, Nativescape

"It is a stimulating guide to landscaping with grasses. The clear and accessible text offers instructions and ideas for both home gardeners and landscape professionals. The rich, color photographs are works of art."

—Hardy Plant

"Yet another book about grasses, you may think, but if you owned The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses you wouldn't need another."

—Verney Naylor, Compass

"Rick Darke’s The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses will entice you with knowledgeable information, design insight, and glorious photographs of grasses and their relatives."

—Stephen Pategas, Ornamental Outlook

"The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses could well be the most comprehensive work on the subject of ornamental grasses. It is without a doubt a handsome and useful volume you will consult time and time again."

—Lynette Walther, Palatka Daily News

"The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses is a 325 page masterpiece. Simply necessary."

—Weedpatch Gazette

"The illustrations are breathtaking and bound to create new fans for gardening with grasses."

—Manitoba Gardener

"If, like me, you’re a fan of ornamental grasses, Darke’s book will be a valuable addition to your reference shelf."

—Karen Baar, Diversion

"This book is the most comprehensive and best illustrated reference ever published on grasses, as it contains species and cultivars from Alopecurus to Zizania."

—Russell Studebaker, Tulsa World

"Darke has two enthusiasms: the love of regional landscape and native flora and the equally fierce belief that man-made objects are a part of that landscape."

—HGTV Ideas

"A major contribution to this group of ornamental plants."

—HortTechnology

"The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses is easily the definitive book on how to imaginatively utilize ornamental grasses as a part of overall garden and landscape design."

—Richard L. Bitner, Plants and Gardens News

"For any grass lover this is the book to have on the subject."

—Gary Keim, Hybrid

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