This is a guide for both beginners and more advanced gardeners, in which over 800 woody plants are described. It aims to provide easy-to-follow information on selection, growing, and care.

Dr David Hessayon initiated a major innovation in gardening publications in 1959 with the first of his Gardening Expert guides. These best-selling guides have had an unparalleled influence on gardening over the past 50 years. There are over 51 million copies in print. He was awarded the 1993 Gardening Book of the Year Award from the Garden Writers Guild and received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement 'Oscar' at the National British Book Awards. In 1999 he received a Guinness World Record Award as 'Britain's best-selling living author of the 1990s'.