Go Native!: Gardening With Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest [Hardcover]

Carolyn Harstad (Author), Jeanette Ming (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999

Planning, site and soil preparation, garden design, plant selection, and propagation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Carolyn Harstad has been gardening with native plants for many years. She is one of the founders of two successful organizations--the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society (1993) and the Indianapolis Hosta Society (1986). She is a popular garden lecturer, nature photographer, certified Landscape Design Critic, and a regular contributor to several gardening newsletters. In 1990, Harstad wrote the wildflower guidelines, still used by 4-H members, to complete her certification as Advanced Master Gardener, Purdue University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 278 pages
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253335612
• ISBN-13: 978-0253335616
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,215,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good reference, not so good layout, December 29, 2002

By 

secondadd "secondadd" (Dublin, OH United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Go Native!: Gardening with Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest (Paperback)

I find this a useful book that I refer back to time to time, as I innately trust the author's advice. There is excellent info in here on a plant's propagation/division and planting requirements. I haven't found anything better.

There are problems: 1) I wish it was more exhaustive in the number of plants it covers, although for a primer it picks really good candidates. 2) It commits the common sin of putting the photographs in their own section instead of with the text, substituting nearly useless line drawings next to the text. 3) The book is topically organized -- plants for shade, using ground cover, developing woodland gardens, etc. I find this rather annoying, and I can never find what I want right away. I'm forever referring to the index. 4) It's presented on cheap paper stock in an amateurish paragraph format, with no page divisions for different plants. This makes it needlessly difficult to use as a reference.

In sum, there is a lot of great info in here, enough to recommend it. I just wish the layout was better.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, June 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Go Native!: Gardening with Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest (Paperback)

This book was wonderful in describing the various plants that are native to the lower Midwest and which ones (that you would have believed to be native) are not. A must have for persons who would like to create a native yard. A great gardening tool.

24 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Native? Are you kidding?, April 9, 2006

By 

Abby O. Finamore "Soon to be Mrs." - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Go Native!: Gardening with Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest (Paperback)

This book lists several severely invasive, nonnative species in its table of contents. Euonymus alatus, Berberis thunbergii, and lythrum salicaria are all extremely invasive plants across the country. It is illegal to sell lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) in several states. At least thirty states list it as invasive. Berberis thunbergii, or Japanese barberry is listed by 45 states as a noxious weed. Don't support a book that sells invasive species as native "wildflowers."