Customer Reviews

Prairie in Your Pocket: A Guide to Plants of the Tallgrass Prairie (Bur Oak Guide)

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

 

 

I bought this guide at the Living History Farms gift shop in Des Moines and was pleasantly surprised to learn it was published in my hometown. This is a portable, durable, beautifully illustrated guide to identifying some of the most common plants of the tallgrass prairie. My family has taken this guide along on outings, and we have found it a very helpful way to connect with our natural surroundings. My pre-teen daughter especially has enjoyed closely examining the plants we encounter to see if they match up with the examples in the guide. Also recommend *Woodland in Your Pocket* by the same illustrator.

I found this guide to be pretty incomplete. I live in the heart of the Flint Hills, and while this may be fine further north, it doesn't apply to well to the plants growing in my part of the Tallgrass Prairie. I wouldn't buy it again. I would recommend a larger book, Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers 2 by Doug Ladd instead. I ordered it at the same time, and it is worth the extra weight due to its completeness.

I am from Southern Minnesota and have had this guide for about 4 or 5 years now. It is my first choice when hiking into the prairie. It is my constant pocket companion. The matching woodland flower guide is great too. They are not perfect but they cover 75 % of the common flowering plants and Grasses of the Midwestern Prairie.
I like it because it is durable, handy in the pocket, and quick to identify. I do have other books and I identifiers in my pack, but this one always comes out first. It only cover the most common plants is basically organized by flower color and Bloom period. Then if I am still stumped I have my "Audubon book of wildflowers" a great but massive pocket guide and "Minnesota wildflowers."

I have found none that are totally complete, But this pocket guide is the perfect place to start. Great for student tours.

One of the widely found plants, here on the Midwest prairie, is Mullein. There is no reference to this stately, beautiful and medicinal plant in this guide. What else is missing. The other illustrations are good and helpful