Fruit & Nuts

A Comprehensive Guide to the Cultivation, Uses and Health Benefits of Over 300 Food-producing Plants

An informative and comprehensive guide to growing and using more than 200 species of fruits and nuts, this A–Z reference will inspire gardeners to grow and use a wider variety of edible plants. Each entry includes a brief history, detailed description, and authoritative information on propagation, as well as helpful advice about harvesting times and methods, cultivation and location needs, pruning, pests and diseases, nutrition and health benefits, and medicinal uses. An extensive, annotated list of cultivars will help gardeners and growers select the most appropriate plants for their location and needs. Suitable for home gardeners, horticulture professionals, orchardists, and nutritionists.

Media reviews of this book:

"Packed with interesting history and facts in addition to lots of practical information for the gardener."

—Book News, September 2007

"Timber Press' reputation for producing beautiful works in the field of gardening and horticulture will be enhanced by this guide to 300 species of temperate and subtropical fruit and nut plants."

—Brian E. Coutts, Library Journal, April 2007

"Beautifully photographed and full of less-common information and unusual edible plants. ... The appendix has a great guide to plants for varying conditions or uses. The index of common names — an edible-plant geek's wish list — makes getting to the juicy details of how to grow, harvest, eat and propagate them very easy."

—Vern Nelson, Oregonian, December 14, 2006

"An immense source of pleasure. ... A welcome and necessary addition to the bookshelf of every gardener, horticultural professional, and nutritionist. ... Its scope and depth of information make it an exceptional purchase."

—Fu Zhuo, Journal of Agricultural and Food Information, Winter 2007

"A fun and informative book with great value to those in food sciences, horticulture, gardening food plants or anyone with a general interest in learning more about the fruits and nuts consumed around the world. The text is thorough, easy to read, and is well illustrated with both color illustrations and color photographs."

—Lee Luckeydoo, Sida, Contributions to Botany, Fall/Winter 2006

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An excerpt from this book:

The genus name diospyros translates as 'food of the gods'. Persimmons are originally native to China, where they have been cultivated for centuries, and more than 2000 different cultivars now exist. Early in the 1300s, Marco Polo recorded that the Chinese were trading persimmons. It is now cultivated most extensively in Japan, where they rank as the fifth most important tree fruit. The plant was introduced into California in the mid 1800s. It is now cultivated commercially, as well as being a popular garden tree, in northern New Zealand and Australia, plus many other warm-temperate and subtropical regions of the world ...

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