Gardens of all sizes can accommodate bamboos, which are cold-resistant and surprisingly easy to grow. Some bamboos make impressive specimens for the border, others form a fast-growing hedge or screen, and short forms provide a leafy groundcover. David Crompton explains everything needed to grow bamboos in this guide to nearly two hundred ornamental plants.

This encyclopedic treatment is notable for the author's expertise and poetic gift. Also a valuable complement to his book on roses.

Practical Bamboos features the 50 best bamboos based on appearance and usefulness. A handy checklist allows readers to pick plants that are right for them at a glance. A section on using bamboo in the garden covers topics such as incorporating bamboos in the mixed border, using them to create Japanese-style or Mediterranean-style gardens, using them for hedges and edging, establishing them in containers, choosing the right ones for difficult places, and selecting the best plants for small gardens or waterside planting.

Whatever your climate, there is a suitable species of bamboo for your garden. More than 300 bamboos are described, from tropical and subtropical species to hardy species with information on size, native range, and landscape use.

This is a sincere effort to record the major ornamental plants raised in gardens and landscapes of today. The main classes of plants are described in the introductory chapter. A comprehensive account of trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers, creepers and taxonomic groups that share characteristics such as bulbous plants, cacti, succulents, bromeliads, ferns, and their allies, grasses bamboos, sedges as well as ornamental water garden plants are given.