Customer Reviews

Paradise by Design: Native Plants and the New American Landscape

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Or is it just a book that goes halfway?

I liked Kathryn Phillips first book, Tracking the Vanishing Frogs: An Ecological Mystery. It had some great investigative storytelling and raised both interesting questions and thoughts.

Unfortunately this new title is not as compelling a read. This book meanders and winds through three different landscape projects. The untitled chapters, sidetrack and discuss many issues, though few of the issues deal directly with native plants as the title and book flaps promise. It might have been better titled: `A day in the life of a Landscape Architect.' It is more about how we ended up making everything around us look the way it does, and the way the landscape industry forces its commerce on the land. While these issues have a relationship to the use of native plants in the landscape the author makes little attempt to connect the reasons.

A large amount of the book spent on drawing plans, hardscapes, meeting logistics, and what car everyone drives. The loose structure made it difficult for me to understand why certain issues were being raised. It does address some interesting horticultural issues but really doesn't relate them to native plants. Lots of the issues it does raise for natives are the same for all plants. Most growers don't like slow growing plants, whether they are native or not. The few pages that do address native plants are interesting but don't add much depth. I feel this book doesn't really educate the value of native plants. Lack of scientific plant names adds to the feel of shallow content. The one time a plant is named by Genius species, it's incorrect (Page 210 - Stipa purpa should be Stipa pulchra.)

Many other books have truly covered the issues of native plants in a more direct fashion. I would strongly recommend Sarah Stein's work (Noah's garden, Planting Noah's garden) if you're interested in native plants in your landscape. Also, Gardening With a Wild Heart : Restoring California's Native Landscapes at Home by Judith Larner Lowry. They both communicate more clearly the real value of a native landscape.

I loved this book because it really offered insight into the life of a landscape architect. It showed well the struggles the architect must overcome but it also illustrates what we (who are entering this field) can expect to face. For me, it was a wonderful narrative in the "day-in-the-life" category and one of the best books I have ever read. I'm only sorry there aren't more like it.

This book is for the intellectually curious gardener. Thought provoking. Should be on the reading list of native plant gardeners.