There are no other conifer books written in the style of my first two books. I am not bragging; I am just stating a fact. I deliberately avoided following the formats followed by earlier authors. This book, my third is a mixture of the old and new. Portions of it will tend to be encyclopedic. I have seen every plant described in this book but I do not always have a story to go with each one. Wherever I can elaborate I do and I will often throw in some of my own opinions.

    The layout of this new book is different from other conifer books as well. I have divided the conifers according to certain criteria. And I have grouped them alphabetically within each of those criteria. The book is written in three volumes to accommodate all of the information and pictures used. The first volume is historical in nature. I included a research paper I did on the history of conifer cultivars in North America from 1932 to 2000. I also included an article I had written about the spruces of Hornibrook. Murray Hornibrook wrote a book about dwarf conifers that was the authority on that topic for almost fifty years. I wrote about his study of Picea abies with my own comments. There is a also scientific chapter about developing new cultivars from hybridizing old ones. Finally, the conifer world is full of freaks and I devoted a chapter to them.

    One other chapter in Volume One is about me, the author. I am a part of all of my books since they are written from my own viewpoints and interactions with other collectors and nurserymen. My retail business, Coenosium Gardens has played an important part in the popularity of conifers in this country, and to a smaller extent, in Europe. I have a chapter about the history of Coenosium Gardens which the reader might enjoy. I included the work I did growing seedlings developed by crossing Picea abies 'Acrocona' with Picea abies 'Gold Drift'. There are 28 golden seedlings and everyone had a different growth habit.