Manual of Woody Landscape Plants

"This is an American book, a very comprehensive book about woody plants. It is absolutely for the serious gardener. If you are in a nursery and you are looking at a magnolia and you are not sure whether it is just the right magnolia for you, all you have to do is to whip out your Dirr and check it out. He will tell you what growing conditions it would prefer. He will have many rare and unusual varieties listed. It is a very fine guide to what you plant. Trees are often the bones of a garden. Many people have tree collections alone. Small trees and flowering trees are very gardenesque. Trees are important in so many ways. They add a lot of summer protection. You want the shade of your trees to grow your shade-loving plants or just to make your house more comfortable in hot summer weather. Trees give scale to a garden and nobility. I don’t think any garden feels right without its trees. Maybe there are a few – something like an Alpine garden doesn’t need trees. But every other type of garden does."