Customer Reviews

Gardening with Native Wild Flowers

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

 

 

I never thought I would take a gardening book to bed with me. This one is a pleasure to read and taught me a lot about identification and gardening uses of native wildflowers of the southeast and northeast. It's the first book I grab to look up a species. Lots of full color photographs have made it much easier for me to identify the plants I want at the nursery. The two authors are coming from different perspectives - one has a natural meadow/woodlands landscape and the other uses native plants in a more controlled garden setting along with exotics. Between the two of them, the reader gets a balanced idea of the possibilities of introducing native flowers to their own yards. I only wish the index combined scientific names with common names, rather than having two separate indexes. It would also be convenient if the plant photos were on the same pages as the descriptions. But those are minor criticisms of an overall superb book.

I have an extensive collection of books on native plants - and the plants
to go with them! This book is one of my least favorite. The information is
not well sorted or presented. I would recommend C. Colston Burrell's
"Encyclopedia of Wildflowers" in preference to this book.
Or Carole Otteson's "Native Plant Primer" with trees and shrubs in addition to
herbaceous perennials.

This is one of the better books when it comes to information about growing native plants. The authors are not shy about their opinions and the book is better for it.

On the down side, the book is not nearly as exhaustive as Cullina's books. I also don't like that it puts the photographs apart from the text, as this makes for some annoying page-flipping. The quality of the photographs is also rather amateurish.

A tepid recommendation would be a hearty one with a better layout and improved pictures.

Don't buy this book! It says it lists native wildflowers, but lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) is listed in the table of contents. This species has been listed as an invasive species or noxious weed in about thirty states. Its sale is prohibited by law in several of those states. Obviously the authors did not do their homework. I wouldn't be surprized if there were other invasives listed in there too.

This book is helpful for anyone interested in gardening. The scientific names are beneficial and the color photos are exquisite and provide assistance in identifying plants. An excellent book for the novice or the amatuer.

This book is not meant to be an encyclopedia but a guide to gardening in the midwestern and eastern US. After the opening discussion of general issues (planning, management, soil, light, nutrients, pH, etc.) come several sections, each of which provides gardening information and detailed lists of native plants according to several possible sites -- sun, shade, meadow, bog -- plus separate sections for ferns, for grasses, sedges, and rushes, and for native ground covers. This is exactly what I've been looking for!
A note to the reviewer who complained of the book's including the invasive Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife). Had you looked on p. 165 where it is cited in the Index, you would have seen this warning: "This introduced species with tall, magenta-colored spikes has become a noxious weed along stream banks and around ponds in the North, choking out many interesting native species. Purple Loosestrife is so aggressive that it should never be planted."