Customer Reviews

Month-by-Month Gardening in Florida

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This books strengths are its wonderful lists of plants defined by climate, a must for Floridians, who have to know if that trumpet tree is really going to survive the winter in Orlando as compared to Key West. It's also useful if you need to know how to take care of specific items day to day. Roses require a lot of care and you can always check out the Rose calender in the book to see what you should be up to.

It is not a one-stop shop, however. The book doesn't give you an overall calender specifying what you should be doing each month, rather you need to go into each plant section to see what you should be up to in that specific area. In addition, though the lists are wonderful and amazingly long, you don't have pictures or detailed information on the plants, and so can't really make a good decision without going to the nursery and checking it out first-hand. Even then, you're not going to have a clear idea of what that plant is going to look like in three years, the winter, etc.

I would suggest the Florida Gardener's book of lists for those of you who are trying to find specific plants for your yard. The Southern Living series has the best pictures for the eager gardener. This book is good for Florida Gardener's who want to know how to care for specific plants year round, or how to maintain their lawn year round. For the rest of you, I'd suggest looking at some of Tom Macubbin's other books or the ones I mentioned above. Tom is a local Central Floridian, and really knows his stuff.

Recommended for advanced Florida gardeners who want to get down to the details of the daily care they need to put into specific areas of their garden.

...from the rest of the country, and sometimes even different within regions of the state. MacCubbin's book, organized by plant type (separate sections for roses, vegetables, trees, etc.) offers the prone-to-be-organized gardener a step-by-step approach to follow. I've found that I read through all 12 months for roses (as an example) to get an overview, and then gone back to this month to see what Tom recommends specifically. Beyond the basic instructions, though, MacCubbin has offered a variety of tips, insights, even history, in offset boxes throughout his chapters. These additional tidbits really set the book apart from the typical how-to book. Best of all, Tom's experience in Florida gives you the confidence to discern your best course of action from among all the gardening voices out there, most of which have to be geographically generic - which usually means "not applicable in Florida."

While missing the colorful photos of many gardening books, this book is a valuable reference guide to use as a companion resource. The list of plants, attributes, dimensions, bloom season, planting time etc... in each section is a quick cheat-sheet when selecting plants. The authors also distinguish between the different conditions in North, Central and South Florida. The only drawback is the reference to plants only by common name without the latin name. Since a plant may be referred to by different common names, not knowing the latin name may leave you wondering, or unable to locate an interesting plant.

I'd like to think most Floridians know not to get too exhausted out in the heat and drink lots of water but this book takes the time to spell that out for you. Finding a shady spot for midday gardening is great advice if you have a shade garden, otherwise, you're gardening wherever your plants happen to be. This trivial information really grated on my nerves and is what earned it just two stars.
The lack of pictures is a big disadvantage especially when the author decides to use common as opposed to botanical names.
I find Home Depot even uses different names from week to week on certain plants and it's impossible to determine just what is being talked about without a botanical reference.
The calendar was a little disappointing as that was the main reason for buying this book.
I can find something useful in any gardening book so it does have some value, it's just not what I was looking for.

While missing the colorful photos of many gardening books, this book is a valuable reference guide to use as a companion resource. The list of plants, attributes, dimensions, bloom season, planting time etc... in each section is a quick cheat-sheet when selecting plants. The authors also distinguish between the different conditions in North, Central and South Florida. The only drawback is the reference to plants only by common name without the latin name. Since a plant may be referred to by different common names, not knowing the latin name may leave you wondering, or unable to locate an interesting plant.

If you want drool-worthy photos, look elsewhere.
If you want a chart showing the critical attributes (nematode tolerance, disease resistance, etc.) of six types of lawn grass in Florida, look here.
If you want to know how to prune your avocado or pear, look elsewhere.
If you want to know how and when to pick whatever kind of avocado or pear some prior owner planted in your yard, look here.
If you want folksy anecdotes involving this palm tree or that one, look elsewhere.
If you want a chart with growth habits and regional suitability (and so on) for 28 kinds of palm and palmetto, look here.
If you want visual aids to identify the disease or bug attacking your plants, look elsewhere.
If you want to know how to handle butt rot on your palm (shown by mushrooms growing around the base of it) look here. (Unfortunately, the answer is to scrag the palm and not replace it.)
The citrus section is particularly informative if you want to know how to care for citrus generally, to compare the seediness and fruiting habits of various kinds. However, the book doesn't mention growth habits or relative size of these trees. For example, my kumquats' natural height is about eight feet and the silhouette is egg-shaped. A pomelo has delusions of oakhood. A limequat has small leaves and a graceful, open habit so grass and potted herbs grow nicely under it. A pomelo not only sprawls, but completely shades the ground.
An interesting editing choice is that instead of a chapter entitled December, with sections on bulbs, citrus, herbs, houseplants, roses, water gardens, and the rest, this book has a chapter entitled Roses, with sections on January, February, etc. This is good if you want to focus on one kind of plant or just your three favorites, but I think I'd like it better the other way.

The book is arranged month by month within the plant categories. So, if you don't have some times of plants, then you don't even have to look at the information. But it is very helpful, especially if you have just moved and want to take good care of your new landscape.

This was a gift. My daughter said it arrived promptly and in new condition. She has found it helpful in planning her garden.

The 1st-time gardening FL family members I got this book for found it very helpful within the first couple of pages.

Good reference book for those of us who grew up gardening in the Middle Atlantic or more northern states. I purchased it with the Cubbins book on Gardening in Florida. The two books together are an encyclopedia of knowledge on Florida gardening.