Customer Reviews

Smartgarden Regional Guide: Southeast (American Horticultural Society Smartgarden Regional Garden Guides)

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

 

 

This is a gorgeous book overflowing with beautiful color photos and sure to motivate any gardener. The intent is to help gardeners select plants that are compatible with specific growing conditions. It is comprised of three parts: Part 1 features "The Ten SmartGarden Tenets" which includes detailed sections on factors like assessing your site, choosing the best plants, working with nature, managing pests, keeping a garden journal, etc. The bulk of the book is Part 2 which is a plant selection catalog and features plants in every conceivable category (examples are "Drought Tolerant Trees," "Winter Flowering Shrubs," "Shrubs with Gray or Blue Foliage," "Vines for Small Arbors," etc.) Every plant has a photo and basic, general information is designated by a symbol. Part 3 covers gardening techniques with excellent step-by-step photos and directions on selecting plants, planting, pruning and propagation. Appendices includes gardening resources, web sites, horticultural organizations, and botanical gardens and arboreta in the U.S. The only issue I have from giving the book 5 stars is that even though the plant categories are endless, each section contains only about 8 or 10 plants and sometimes that just isn't enough to choose from. Still, the photos along are worth the price - this is a beautifully designed book.

I first borrowed this book from a friend who is a garden designer. After a quick scan I knew I had to have it. It is very well organized for those who have long range visions for what they would like their garden to be. Great for planning purposes, with tons of full color pictures organized into utilitarian catagories to easily find what you need. I believe this book will save me a lot of time, money and aggrevation in my gardening endeavors. I am an organizer, and this book works like my brain does, so it is a great fit.

This is a great book if you don't live in Florida. Most of these plants don't like our heat and humidity.

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for my sister and brother-in-law who live in SC. They are always asking me for gardening advice and since I am not familiar with the flora and fauna there, I thought this book would give them some good basic information.

This book includes some good basic knowledge and care for plants. In addition, it lists many plants that are native to the area. This list includes pictures of the plants, their requirements, and in some instances, pruning information. All in all, I thought this book was just what they needed to learn about the plants offered in their location.

Beautiful and very helpful book. I am very happy to have it in my reference book colection

South-eastern gardeners won't want to miss the Society's Southeast Smartgarden Regional Guide, a reference to over 3,000 plants which grow well in the Southeast. With literally thousands of color photos accompanied by step-by-step gardening sequences and techniques, this is packed with fine detail.

I liked this book- the pictures were gorgeous. It had some interesting plants I'd like to try, but it also had some that I KNOW do not grow where the book says they will- like lavender. Like another viewer pointed out, there are pretty limited selections for each category, and some of the zones were, well, I'm not sure what to say about that. One plant grew only in zones 11-15. Where is that?? The Florida Keys to Cuba? I checked this one out at the library, and if I find it on clearance somewhere, I'd like to have a copy. But if I could have only 3 books in the garden section of my bookshelf, this one wouldn't make the cut.

The book is good in the following areas:
- Beautiful photos let you see clearly what you would be planting.
- Good descriptions of conditions that plants prefer (pH, heat and frost tolerances, water)
- Plants are arranged into useful categories (for example, fast-growing trees)
- Contains the most popular plants for the Southeast

Despite this, I find that the book does not have enough variety of plants. When reading the different sections on trees or shrubs, for instance, many times the same plant is repeated in different sections. For example, the same plant could be listed as both a summer blooming tree and also a drought-tolerant tree. Not only that, but the caption on the image has the exact same description of the plant in both sections. I would have at least wanted some different insights into the plant when repeating it in a different section.

Overall, I like this book for its wonderful photos and good coverage of the most popular varieties. However, if you are really looking for something comprehensive, you're better off finding a different book.

No doubt the book is beautiful, but I have two problems with it.

1. The hardiness zones are way off in too many instances, for example Chamaerops humilis is listed as a zone 12 palm but is actually a zone 8 palm. Additionally, Sabal palmetto is listed as zone 12 when it is acually a zone 8 palm and Butia capitata is listed as zone 11 when it too should be listed as zone 8. These palms have survived here, near Augusta Georgia, even through the once-in-a-century cold of the 1980s. Also, I'm not aware of any zone 12s or 13s in the Southeast.....I believe even the "Keys" are only zone 11.

2. In many cases a single species or cultivar was used throughout the book; for example Liatris spicata. It would have been nice to see some other Liatris species used.

I am using this for a reference for a high school horticulture program. It fits the bill!