Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Northwest Native Plants for Gardens and Landscapes

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The layout and format are excellent. I especially appreciate that the pictures are on the same page as the relevant text. (Books that make me turn to page 437 for the picture annoy me.) You won't be taking this book along in your backpack as you hike in the wilderness, due to its size and weight, but that's what Pojar and Mackinnon's Plants Of The Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia & Alaska is for. You'll keep this book at home near your garden, and the wealth of pictures will help you dream and plan about the beautiful natives you could have in your garden.

The descriptions feature recommendations for locations within your garden, helping you put the right plant in the right place. With large native evergreens, this is the absolute critical step, as many a cute little fir has grown up to menace the neighborhood. This book is similar to Kruckeberg's Gardening With Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest but with ten times as many plants to choose from.

The book is not as complete as Hitchcock's Flora of the Pacific Northwest: An Illustrated Manual, but it is much more user friendly. You could spend a lifetime trying to fit every plant in this encyclopedia into your garden, and you would be kept happily busy.

Any northwest gardener with the slightest interest in gardening with natives will want to add this book to his or her shelf.

I've been growing NW natives for 25 years with successes and failures (and a lot of fun). With this book, I would have had many fewer failures! I've pulled it out a dozen times already this season and it's never failed me. Excellent photos, descriptions, and propagation instructions. It looks like a tea-table treasure, but it performs like a combination field guide and cultivation handbook. Highly recommended.

This is the best book on NW natives I've found. Great pictures, descriptions and very complete. If I could only have one native plant book this'd be the one. Worth the pirce

This is a must have for the Northwest gardener whether you are a long time NW gardener or a new one. Large photos with excellent descriptions.

An outstanding publication. Filled with more Northwest botanical than most. The author is so thoroughly informed, it would be an experience to meet her in person.

The purchase experience rivals the book. Both are marvelous. Will look for this provider again.

At over 500 pages and a color photograph of each plant, this is book gives a wealth of information on each plant- a detailed description right down to the number of sepals and stamens, what it's soil, sun/shade, altitude and drainage preferences are, where it's native range is, propagation, and any special notes. Divided into sections of ferns, conifers, annuals, perennials and trees & shrubs, the plants are then arranged alphabetically. At the end of the book are lists of plants for special situations- drought tolerant, for bogs, to attract birds, butterflies and hummingbirds, for erosion control.

Because it's not arranged by flower color like the Taylor's guide is (and also because of its size) it's not a handy field guide, but a book to sit down with at home and read. It has an extensive range- from the California redwood area on up into Alaska- so a lot of the plants won't be found in our area. But if you are interested in using native plants, this is an excellent book. It will help you to not just find and grow the plants, but to grow them well. And because of the sheer number of plants in it, it's a fun guide once you have some idea what you're looking for. For instance, that clematis I've seen along the Clark Fork River? Clematis ligusticfolia. Timber Press books always prints quality books, and this one is well worth the price.

From its well-written descriptions, detailed illustrations and helpful photography this
is a definitive must-have book for any northwest native gardener. A lot of gardening books
are mostly for show - and there is a place for those types of books. You'll find this one,
however, getting smudged and dog-eared from repeated usage.
In fact, if your preferred nursery does not have one on its counter for reference you may be
at the wrong nursery

What we've been waiting for to make our reforestation projects, hiking trips, etc. more fun and informative. Thanks.