As a gardener that has trees and woody shrubs in their landscape, this is an excellent reference to have on your bookshelf. Dirr has excellent photography of the tree or shrub specimens, along with many closeups details that allow one to better identify them. He also puts not only the character information in the tree or shrub description, but Dirr often will put in his opinions regarding the usefulness or his personal recommendations to plant it all! This is one book that have been wanting for. I highly recommend this horticultural reference book to you.
If you like trees this is a great book. The pictures are excellent and the descriptions tell you what you need to know. The guides in the back are extremely useful for selecting suitable trees for any location.