Review

This book is for anyone interested in herbs, whether for their culinary value or as ornamentals. Quill and Trowel 20070601 [Will] help homeowners and gardeners decide which plants in [the Umbrel] family are best for herb gardens and flower beds. -- Jill Sell Cleveland Plain Dealer 20070721 Will earn [an] arm's-reach position on many bookshelves. -- Mary Ann Fink St. Louis Post-Dispatch 20070901 Lawton has honed a style that provides succinct, straightforward, no-nonsense information with a mastery of the language that makes readers enjoy reading about the subject at hand. St. Louis Gateway Gardener 20071201

Book Description

Parsleys, Fennels, and Queen Anne’s Lace is the gardener’s introduction to one of the most distinctive families of the plant kingdom— the Umbelliferae, commonly known as umbels. It is the particular arrangement of flowers that distinguishes umbels, but in spite of this basic similarity the hundreds of genera and thousands of species of the family display a rich variety of forms and are put to many uses. Umbel-bearing plants have aromatic oils in their foliage and fruits, and many are used as herbs, spices, and foods—anise, caraway, carrot, celery, coriander, cumin, dill, lovage, and of course, parsley and fennel, to name a few. Many umbels are valued additions to the ornamental garden, too. For example, Miss Willmott’s ghost, Eryngium giganteum, is a strikingly architectural perennial—and one with a fascinating history, as its common name suggests. Parsleys, Fennels, and Queen Anne’s Lace is for anyone interested in herbs, whether for their culinary value or as ornamentals.