Northwest Penstemons: 80 Species of Penstemon Native to the Pacific Northwest [Hardcover]

Dee Strickler (Author), Anne Morley (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

What are Penstemons, anyway? Answer: Members of the beautiful and hearty snapdragon family, they make up the largest genus of flowering plants native to North America, with about 272 species. With high-quality, full color photos, this authoritative field guides makes it easy to identify the 80 species of Penstemons found in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Includes technical line drawings for each species and a range map showing where each is found.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 191 pages
• Publisher: Flower Pr; 1 edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560445726
• ISBN-13: 978-1560445722
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,821,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide to identification of native penstemons, January 7, 2009

By 

Harrikins (Ferndale, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Northwest Penstemons: 80 Species of Penstemon Native to the Pacific Northwest (Hardcover)

This little book is not a "gardening" book, although many of the species described could easily be grown in the garden. Rather, it is a fabulous identification tool, with a key in front and beautiful photographs and descriptions of the different species in the rest of the book. The format is easy to use - you don't have to use the key if you don't want to - and the layout of one double page per species with the description on one side and photo on the other, makes scanning for possible matches easy.

I was a little surprised to see species found only in Idaho and Montana included, but if the book was limited only to Washington and Oregon species it would have been a bit thin. The range maps included for each species are quite clear, and there is no possibility of confusing a Montana species with a western Cascade one.

I will be using this book to identify penstemons on my mountain hikes as well as choosing which species might succeed in my garden when I select seed from the NARGS seed exchange. All in all I was completely satisfied with this book.