"There are few gardeners whose validation of a plant's worthiness I would take so seriously, " writes the popular and influential American plant-hunter, Dan Hinkley, in the book's foreword. "Marina's delightful and inspiring account of late-blossoming perennials is based not just on a genuine fondness for plants and an appreciation of gardening, but also on that most rare of ingredients in contemporary gardening writing: indisputable hands-on knowledge."

And it really shows. This is an authoritative guide, with a fascinating A-Z plant directory, including detailed notes on their cultivation and growing habits. There are practical and inspirational chapters on the surprisingly large late summer line-up, on creating the right habitat for them, on making a dynamic garden, on manipulating the seasons to suit the gardener and on how to make a bountiful border, even on a very tight budget.

Marina Christopher wears her immense learning lightly and her writing is never patronising, always refreshingly modest and informative. She points out that in Britain (and Ireland) the growing season is now much longer because of climate change, making autumn and early winter relatively frostfree and thus leaving the way free to grow increasing numbers of spectacular late-summer perennials to "help renew inspiration in the months of the year when shadows are lengthening".

The book is well-illustrated with specially commissioned photographs by Steven Wooster, including good close-ups of propagation techniques such as seed collecting, sowing, softwood cuttings, division and root cuttings.

This section alone is a master class and worth the price of the book, a book that should be on every keen gardener's shelf for reference. Browse through it in a bookshop and I bet you'll want to buy it.

Because she is also a naturalist, Marina Christopher's choice of plants is often dictated by their ability to attract beneficial insects, birds and mammals.

"Why spend time spraying a concoction of noxious chemicals at regular intervals against pests and diseases when you could be enjoying the scents and sounds of the garden, as hoverflies and birds seed out and ingest swarms of aphids, while hedgehogs and frogs gobble slugs and blackbirds and thrushes smash snails open on a piece of stone. . . ?" Why indeed.

What's on >> Saturday 12 August, 2pm5pm: South County Dublin Horticultural Society 80th Summer Flower Show at Rathdown School, Upper Glenageary Road, Co Dublin. A feast for the senses and a chance to see fabulous plants grown to perfection. Plant sales, raffle, teas and free parking.

>> Sunday 13 August: The RHSI is pleased to announce that the All-Ireland Club of 2006 Competition, sponsored by Coillte Teo, will be held at the Tullamore Show, with seven clubs drawn from around the country competing. Run jointly with the committee of the Tullamore Show in their Horticultural Marquee, the organisers promise that it'll be the finest exhibition of vegetables and flowers in the country.

Further details from John Markham, RHSI council chairperson. Tel: 01-287 4400.

DROUGHT TOLERANT As a footnote to last week's article on drought, there are all sorts of lovely leguminous trees and shrubs, those nitrogen"xing members of the pea family such as Genista, Cercis siliquastrum (the Judas Tree), the Honey Locust Gleditsia, Albizia, Acacia, Wisteria and Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia' from the rocky Appalacian hillsides, that grow very well in dry town gardens with thin, poor soils.