Buried Treasures: Finding and Growing the World's Choicest Bulbs

Latvian nurseryman Ruksans illuminates the realm of uncommon, alluring flowering bulbs, while chronicling his uncommon plant-hunting forays throughout what he calls the Soviet Empire. Renowned for these intrepid plant explorations, as well as for his expansive knowledge of breeding and growing bulbous plants, Ruksans offers an entertaining narrative that remains instructive. To begin, Ruksans puts forth a thorough and engaging presentation of cultivating bulbous plants, from the merits of growing bulbs from seeds to the use of tweezers for pollination. Going forward, he recounts adventurous travels in the Crimea, Siberia, and Anatolia in fascinating detail, scouring remote regions to search out and collect rare botanical gems, species of crocus, corydalis, and fritillaria among them. Fairly bursting with vivid descriptions, Ruksans' latest effort rewards plant connoisseurs with authoritative horticultural insights and sheds light on the dedicated enterprise of an impassioned plantsman.