KC, Having written and published a specific work myself I understand the time, effort and expense involved in not only travel for research and field work, but writing, editing, etc and publication costs IF all are paid for by the author(s) themselves (more about that later). Quality color photographs are very expensive in books - the higher the quality the more expensive. Even so the prices asked for many books is ridiculous, and is all about the profit that can be made on them. I covered ALL of the expenses and did all the work for my project myself, and gave all the copies away at no cost (all 5 printings). My purpose was to record and share (which did add some limited notoriety as well), but it was not to make money on. While some of the books I refered to (and many others) are spectacular as photo albums, did require a massive effort on the part of authors if they did the field work themselves, and may contain enough technical information to help offset their cost, they are still overpriced IMO. That later part... most are written by authors with institutional backing where most if not all expenses are covered by their backer. Brings to mind when I was picked for a special team to go do lepidopteran field work in China for a couple of months in the 90's, and couldn't go because I did not have those ties and could not justify the expenses out of pocket when I still had a son to put through college starting in a couple of years. Unfortunately some of the early works and discoveries have been lost in later references, but they still hold water and so still have value. Dozens of my research papers, books and other references are as old as the hills, but I'd rather refer to them than a lot of the stuff being published today that is often just copied work that was only done for the notoriety, the almighty buck or to record it (with notoriety as a by product). Teaching from a reference by a staff member is nothing new, still goes on today. A nemisis of what is supposedly called higher education. It's not right, but it still prevails. Larry

Nothing wrong with having an opinion :-) In fact, I don't know too many serious gardeners that don't have strong opinions........it kinda goes with the territory. After referring to our reference copy at work frequently, I just recently bought this book for my own library. It has been added to my collection of other texts written by Dirr - I consider his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants one of my primary resources and wouldn't care to be without it and Hardy Trees and Shrubs (great photos to illustrate for clients). I appreciate Dirr's incredible plant knowledge and scholarship and if anything, his opinions - stated very openly and without apology - make the reading of what would otherwise be pretty dry tomes far more interesting and personalized.

Shoot, Yeah, I know I should have both, along with a greenhouse and automatic misting system! My wife, oddly, seems to think I should ease into this activity. Perhaps she's looking at the garage full of power tools that I bought in anticipation of all the furniture I was going to build? Hey, I've made a cat bed, an aquarium stand, a printer table, a shoe rack, and a wheeled plant stand! Of course, she's waiting for the sleigh bed and bedroom set, the dining room set, the entertainment center wall unit..., but I digress. I've been a propagating dabbler since I was a kid, and am ready to get more serious about it. I understand the generalities and am ready for the specifics regarding particular species. Propagating woodies is more mysterious to me than herbaceous perennials, and, it seems, more species-specific. At the moment, I own Bir (1992): Growing and Propagating Showy Native Woody Plants, and have on loan something like the 1975 edition of Hartmann and Kester: Plant Propagation, Principles and Practices. The former covers specific species, but only a few and only briefly, the latter is detailed, dated, and doesn't cover specific species.

The same Amazon 52 set pens are at AC Moore for $12.99 (reg. $24.99) if they still have any left. I know some areas, like Raven's, do not have AC Moore stores. I bought the Crayola Twist colored pencils for $6 at AC Moore for my mom. Right now, they have BoGo 50% off their Crayola supplies.