This time of year there are so many beautiful trees and shrubs in bloom that it is hard to keep track of what they all are.

One possible resource is the newly released second volume of the Bermuda Flora engagement diary written by Lisa Greene.

"This time of year is truly an amazing sight," said Ms Greene. "The royal poincianas, golden showers and scarlet cordias, among other things, are in bloom."

Ms Greene said that is why this is the perfect time of the year to release her second engagement diary which includes 27 photos of local plants, information and an index.

Ms Greene works in the Bermuda Natural History Museum at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo. She previously worked at the Bermuda Botanical Gardens for nine years and wrote a weekly column about plants for The Royal Gazette.

"I am always looking at plants when I walk somewhere or drive down the road," she said. "But I think a lot of people in Bermuda just take it for granted.

"I want to get information out about plants. I want people to start to learn about the plants and appreciate them more.

"I tried to get the best pictures that I could that would give people a good idea of what the plant looked like at different times of the year."

Ms Greene hopes that after perusing the diary, people will start to spot the plants in it when they are out.

She said she is considering offering some of the pictures in poster form, but hasn't made a decision yet.

"The truth is this whole ride, from deciding I am going to do the first volume and then carrying it through, marketing it and following up has been really challenging," she said. "It has taken up a lot of time because everything was new to me. It was a steep learning curve.

"When things settle down and get a little easier – which I anticipate it will do soon – then I would like to branch out and see if there might be a market for some of the individual images."

The second book has the same format as the first volume which sold quite well for a first book.

"Not knowing what I was doing I ordered more copies than I needed," Ms Greene admitted. "But better to have too many than too little."

Last year, she donated extra copies of the diary to teachers and school libraries. "I had a great response from people with Volume One," she said. "People really liked that they could give it as a gift.

"I think that the style suited the book really well."

She said putting together the book took a lot of self-discipline because sitting at the computer meant time away from her garden.

"I would be sitting at the computer thinking, 'do I really want to do this again'. But people said, 'yes do it again, we love it'."

Ms Greene used an Olympus single lens reflex camera to take the photos. "It is a second-hand camera," she said. "It doesn't even have an interchangeable lens. It just has a zoom. But it is was a big step up from a little compact camera that I had been using. I find it does very well for me. At the moment I am going to stick with that.

Ms Greene used Adobe InDesign to lay out her pages. "I had never used it before, but I knew a few people who had," she said. "It is very intuitive. I just sat down and figured it out.

"Having done that the first year, it was a lot easier to put the diary together again for the second volume.

"The hard part is taking the writing and rewriting and making sure that I have everything right."

She said writing the book was a question of being logical and meticulous. "It is not difficult, it is just tedious," she said.

Her favourite pictures in the diary include one of milkweed seeds blowing into the wind, and another of a bee buzzing around a white magnolia blossom.

"I am proud of many of the pictures," she said.

But she said it can be more challenging to take photos for documentation rather than for artistic merit. "It is also difficult finding the time to go out and do it," she said. "But it is fun and I love doing it."

The book not only contains pictures of Bermuda's floral beauties, but also its green nuisances. "I put in some plants that are actually not good for Bermuda," said Ms Greene. "People need to learn about those also.

"If they learn about it then they have information they can act on. They can say, 'This plant is not good, the seeds are spread by birds', for example. "I am really hopeful that my books will bring more appreciation and enjoyment for the plants of Bermuda."

Ms Greene has already started working on the third volume of the engagement diary.

"I am determined that if I put a third one out I am going to get it on the market earlier," said Ms Greene. "I do have to discipline myself."

The second volume is in local bookstores all over the island.

It is also being sold in local plant nurseries, the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo, the visitors' centre at The Botanical Gardens and Trustworthy.