Customer Reviews

All About Weeds

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After years of thinking how helpful a book about weeds would be, I was delighted to find this one. Included in Spencer's text is a layperson's description of each plant, as well as where it grows, how it is spread, who its relatives are, how to get rid of it and any known uses or lore associated with it. At the end of the "common" information for each weed is its technical description and formal names. The illustrations are excellent, although color photographs would have been more useful for weed identification. Overall though, a great find, and one I have already passed on to others!

I agree with everything the other reviewer has said about this charming book but would add that I also found interesting the detailed information about each weed -- for example, all the funny common names of one that came from the "old world" and its mention in Shakespeare's plays. I also liked that the author tells you about ones that can be eaten, ones that improve your soil, and ones to get rid of before they take over your whole garden. A very enjoyable book to read on a summer's day when you are lounging on some grass amongst a whole bunch of interesting weeds.

This was one of my first weed/wildflower books. It's nice to see the upside of each plant given equal time. Ground ivy, for instance, is a dreaded lawn weed but it smells divine and used to be used in making beer and was known in olden days as gil go over the ground. You do have to put a little more effort into identification via black and white illustrations but by doing so you will learn to 'see' the plant more fully.