Customer Reviews

Northwest Penstemons: 80 Species of Penstemon Native to the Pacific Northwest

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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.