New Dirr edition?

Hey all,

Does anyone know if a new edition is planned for Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants? Going on ten years since the last one. I never did get this classic (yes, I'm the one) and I wonder if it's worth getting now if a new one might be on the horizon. Any toughts? Thanks.

Victor

Don't know, but hoping so. I'm not buying another Dirr manual until a new edition comes out, and here is the condition of my current Dirr manual.

Scott

Guess you've used it once or twice!

I looked at one he wrote titled "Trees & Shrubs for warm climates" at Amazon. I'm just not sure what is meant by "warm climate". Would that book be meant for people in south Florida?

Hey, that's my manual!
Well, almost. I taped mine back together with packing tape...

I would guess "warm climate" would include at least down to zone 8...if it said "tropical climate", then I would assume only the very warmest parts of the country, but I think "warm climate" would be a bit broader. Is it one of the Amazon books that lets you peek inside and read some of the pages? Usually the introduction is included in the pages you can see so that should tell you what zones are included.

It's zones 7 - 11, the other book was 3 - 6

That's the one I need then. Thanks Claypa

I heard Dirr talking about another version of his book and he was rather noncommittal about a newer version. That was a year and a half ago already. Wow, where does time go? Now that he's not in school, I suspect he's having too much fun making baby Hydrangeas and Crappy Myrtles to do a major upgrade. Thinking of going to see him at some tradeshow (name escapes me now) in early Jan. out in Overland, KS where he will be speaking with some other plant breeders. If I go and he's not mobbed by people, I could ask him, I suppose.

Regards,
Ernie

Humor me guys...why the need for a new version? Would it have newer plants in it and therefore making the one above obsolete? FWIW Victor, you're not the only one who doesn't have the above book. I looked on ebay but it was way too expensive for me.

Terry,

Snow day down here! How bout up there? I suspect that the official total for Peoria will be somewhere around 12". About Dirr's book, it could include many of the newer cultivars as well as some of the emerging plants like Leptodermis. Just assuming, but if book sales mainly in the U.S., there could be more discussion of some up the work being done with natives. In general, there's just a whole lot of breeding and selection going on right now that could be brought forward in Dirr's bully pulpit. Being in the trade, one sees some trends; Dirr writes well (or perceived well) about something then a while later, it shows up in the trade with a description much like his. It may then fizzle with out marketing steam behind it but I truly believe the trend is there. It's pretty much "The Book" from what I've seen. He has pretty well hit the sweet spot of horticultural literature. Not so dry and hard to read as Hortus III or Krussman, but scientific or evaluative enough be very useful. Not only that but he gives well-reasoned opinions about plants, not just a basic statement of it's features. Hmmm, my Krussman has disappeared off of it's shelf. Where could it be? A horticultural mystery for my snowday away from work.

Regards,
Ernie

Packing tape is holding my cover on too, it hasn't fallen apart yet but it's close LOL. Interesting observation Ernie, as we don't always concur with Dirr's assessments, but he is da man! when it comes to pronouncements. He's also pretty funny at times, which is helpful when you're stressing over the minutiae. I would love to meet him, as he was one of my professor's colleagues at U of I.

Yes Ernie, big snow day up here too. Just about everything in town is closed (schools, banks, stores, city hall, courthouse etc) while they try to clear the streets of the snow. We're still waiting for them to even begin to do our street. I can't tell you how many people we've seen stuck. My husband would guesstimate that the total snow is a foot, with drifts up to 3 feet and higher.

Thanks for your explanation on the book, it was as I suspected.

And here in Cincy, we wait. Wind cut through me today like an Xray. Brutal. Big trees over, shingles and garbage cans a-flying! I haven't seen a forecast since last night, but I'm hoping we get at least some snow. I don't like being cold without some snow to look at, but we never get very much here for some reason.

Scott

Okey Dokey,
The storm from Ohio & PA has worked it's way North through out the day and now the low from Canada and Illinois is following behind. New England is going to get both ends one right after another. The last few days were record breaking (1881) warm temps 68 yesterday 69 today. I am expecting nothing more than high winds 50mph for 2-3 days for the second time in less than a month. I should be a spokes person for Wilt Pruf (anti desiccant) it really works miracles but is outrageously expensive. I just paid $53.95 for 1 gallon concentrate if any one has a suggestion about where I could buy anti desiccant at a better price PLEASE let me know. kt

We had near record temps just half a week ago. Suddenly the bottom dropped out. It is really cold though. Last I looked it was 17 and that's without a wind chill.

Brrr.

Just watched the news. I was too low on the snow. We got 18 inches.

I don't mean to whine, but it's cold here too. It's in the 30's for crying out loud!

Well.....it's cold to me. LOL

We need some of those little smiley face icons (happy, sad, confused) that others sites have. I would use them quite often.

Ah poor boy! Surely they have furnaces (heat pump probably), sweatshirts, longjohns and the like down there too, don't they? Instead of cheese with your whine, want some snow? :o)

Yup, heat pump.

You didn't say, do you want me to send some snow your way? The plow finally came down the side street and pushed a good 5 1/2 feet onto our driveway........hubby isn't real happy.......

Wished we could get some for a few days. I'm 27 and I can can only remember it snowing here twice in my lifetime. I think it's neat as long as it don't last all winter long.

Well I guess I've always figured if it's going to be cold, then it might as well snow and the ground be snow covered. Think of the snowball fights you can have, the forts you can build, the sledding you can do.....I'm guessing the snow you had there twice was probably like the "snow" we had when we lived just north of Chattanooga TN......light dusting, and people looking at me like I'm nuts as I walked out of Lowe's, head up, tongue out......can you believe they just kept honking at me? Sheesh, some people :o)