Native Ferns, Moss, and Grasses: From Emerald Carpet to Amber Wave, Serene and Sensuous Plants for theGarden (Hardcover)

by William Cullina (Author)
Key Phrases: rosette grass, southern wood fern, broom moss, North America, United States, British Columbia (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Reigning over a trove of native flora at the New England Wild Flower Society, Cullina directs his expertise primarily to conservation, research, and education while bringing artistry to the horticultural realm of the society’s Garden in the Woods. In previous books, Cullina dealt with wildflowers, trees, shrubs, and vines. His latest effort looks at the panoply of textures available to the gardener who wishes to incorporate ferns or mosses into a shady, woodland setting or perhaps needs help selecting grasses for a sunny meadow. Cullina stresses the importance of each native plant’s genetic makeup as he guides readers to an understanding of hardiness factors from coast to coast, invasive species, and the effects of global warming. For the keen gardener or nursery professional, the book should prove an invaluable and authoritatively selective resource, with listings that provide common names, natural habitats, and cultural requirements as well as Cullina’s lively plant descriptions and personal musings. --Alice Joyce

Product Description

With this new book, William Cullina completes his three-book series on native plants. Like Wildflowers and Native Trees, Shrubs and Vines, Native Ferns, Moss and Grasses combines encyclopedic information about North American species with specific instructions on how to grow and propagate them, all written in a fresh and entertaining style.
Cullina compares a garden made up of nothing but bright flowers to the detergent shelves in a supermarket, where every package screams for attention. What makes a true garden out of a collection of flowering plants are the ferns, moss, and grasses that are the verdant canvas on which nature paints its portraits -- dark green, medium green, forest green, light green, lime green, yellow-green, blue-green, gray-green, chartreuse, emerald, teal, puce, and every shade of green in between. These plants, Cullina says, bring to the garden a level of refinement and sophistication unmatched by any flower.
On the practical side, Native Ferns, Moss and Grasses contains a thorough discussion, with several maps, of what plant hardiness means in the light of global warming. For each species, he also gives the natural range, type of soil, and habitat in which the plant thrives. In the back he provides complete information on where to buy these plants and list of the best species for various uses.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (February 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618531181
• ISBN-13: 978-0618531189
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,071 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Plants > Mosses & Lichens
  #4 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > By Plant > Ferns
  #5 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > By Plant > Grasses

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiration for new and seasoned gardeners and native plant enthusiasts, March 13, 2008

By	Native Plant Lover (MA) - See all my reviews

I heard Bill Cullina speak about mosses last week at New England Wild Flower Society and immediately went home to rake the leaves off my woodland patches-giving the moss a better chance to become part of the garden. What beautiful plants! This book is inspiring me to focus on a whole new category of garden plants. Bill makes challenging topics accessible, fascinating-and funny. I can rely on Cullina's information completely. I use his WILDFLOWERS book for my go-to perennial plant reference, NATIVE TREES SHRUBS AND VINES for woody plants, and now this book to bring a whole new group of plants into focus. Check out the climate change map-75 years from now what might your zone for gardening be, according to Cullina? This books also brings new clarity to important conservation issues such as invasive plants, ecological landscaping and more. This is the ultimate in GOING GREEN, and a great read.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars essential for the native-plants gardener, March 25, 2008

By	Jason P. Sorens "ecolibertarian" (Tonawanda, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Every native-plants gardener and natural landscaper know that a healthy, vibrant, aesthetically pleasing wild garden must have balance. While there are many beautiful North American wildflowers, a garden consisting solely of wildflowers would be weedy and jarring to the eye. Enter ferns, mosses, and grasses.

Cullina's book is an indispensable guide to the world of ferns, mosses, and grasses native to North America. These types of plants can be particularly important when establishing a meadow, prairie, or woodland for the first time, because they can help out-compete undesirable weeds. He gives extensive, opinionated insights into a wide range of species and includes sections on propagation and lists of species for particular environments (cool-season grasses, warm-season grasses, wet, dry, etc.). This is much more than an encyclopedia; its information goes far beyond what you could read on websites like plants.usda.gov and wildflower.utexas.edu.

If you hadn't thought much about gardening with grasses, sedges, and other "non-showy" plants before now, you'll look at these plants in a whole new light. This is the first of Cullina's books I've read, and now I'm off to buy his other two books on native plants.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource, July 20, 2008

By	Julie MacNary "good gardner" (cape cod, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When it comes to native vegetation, Cullina,s books are the bible for me. This is no exception. He's taken on ferns, grasses and mosses all of which are hard to differentiate and different in the way they propogate. He,s done a masterful job in helping me identify them, know where to plant them and how to propogate them.