Howard Garrett's Texas Trees (Hardcover)

by Howard Garrett (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
My love affair with trees began early. As a kid, I climbed everything that stood still, but trees were my favorite obstacle. My two favorite trees were a catalpa and a mimosa, both smooth-barked trees in our yard in Pittsburg, Texas.

Unfortunately, mimosa trees are weak and dying out across the country. The catalpa is still on my good tree list, even though most of the rest of the world considers it a trash tree. Well, that's what this book is about - horticultural details as well as my opinions on whether and how to use the various trees available in Texas.

After I grew up and quit climbing them, trees became enormously important to me for another reason. During my conversion to organics in the late 1980's, I was astonished to find how well trees responded to the organic method. Once residential and commercial projects ceased using high nitrogen, synthetic fertilizers and toxic chemical pesticides, the trees on these projects almost immediately took on a better appearance and started to grow at a faster rate than before the change. The one tree that taught me the most is a gingko in my own backyard in the Lakewooed area of Dallas. I didn't understand the deatils in the beginning - I just knew it was working. Now I do understand the secret.

That wonderfully simple secret is actually no secret at all. In general what happened is that I discovered Mother Nature's plan - a perfect plan that is in some ways too simple for most folks to buy into at first. The secret? Imitate nature as closely as you can: (1) Select adapted plants and plant them correctly at the proper time and in the right location. (2) Don't do anything that hurts the life in this soil.

It's really that simple. You will find the details of this basic plan in the first chapter, and then special instructions for particular trees under the appropriate entries.

I hope you will find this book easy to use, but I encourage your suggestions.

Welcome to the common sense approach to dealing with Texas' most wonderful plants.

From the Inside Flap
Knowing when and how to plant a tree is crucial to its survival. But if you select the wrong kind of tree for your particular area and conditions, th proper planting techniques will not make a difference. Because Texas is a big place with varied climates, soils, and water qualities, a wide variety of trees can be grown there. Howard Garett, also known as the "Dirt Doctor" explores the wide-ranging possibilities in a book that will prove its value to homeowners, landscape architects, contractors, nursery owners, gardeners, and other who want healthy trees.

Texas Trees includes a complete description of native and best-introduced trees and gives details on natural habitats and preferred sites, planting and maintenance, identification information, flowers, fruit, and foliage, culture, problems, and propagation. Texas Trees is for all Texas tree lovers, from the Red River to the Gulf Coast, the piney woods to the deserts and mountains.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 252 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (November 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891230769
• ISBN-13: 978-0891230762
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #136,952 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #8 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Regional > Southwest
  #31 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Trees
  #35 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Shrubs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice pictures, short on info, December 29, 2003

By	"dwashington7" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

I read the book from front to back. Nice pictures, glad to have a listing of the different tree groups in the back (flowering, shade trees, ...) and for the insight into some of the tree's uses (medicinal, neem properties, etc.). I was a bit disappointed on the lack of information that I would have liked to have seen - for instance - up close pictures/sketches of tree leaves and fruit for reader's use in identifying a tree. Was glad to see pictures of entire tree along with up close shots, it helps me determine what the mature tree will look like in the landscape.

I also would have liked to see a more expansive description on the leaves (ie this tree can be distinguished from look alikes by it's 7 points and fuzzy underside). There were two pictures of Shumard Red Oak leaves and the leaves were shaped differently on the two pictures, so now I am unsure if I actually have a Shumard Red Oak. A drawing of the leaves would have helped.

I felt like the author was too harsh when comparing his way of doing things (like not pruning newly transplanted trees) with the advice of other gardening gurus. I would have been more accepting of that advice if he had conducted some controlled experiments of his own and published those results rather than to just say "this is the way it should be because this has been my observation." As an amature gardener, its a big risk of time, effort and money for me to follow this type of advice without something concrete to back it up. Also felt like the author was really pushing his home remedies for ailments without offering alternatives for folks who can't/don't want to brew those treatments up.

As an urban gardener, I was also interested in knowing which trees are more likely to damage sidewalks, pipes, etc with aggressive roots. I saw some information on that in the book but it was not comprehensive as I am aware that some of the trees listed are known to have agressive roots and this was not indicated.

Would have also liked to have known what parts of the state are considered alkaline versus neutral versus acid soil (even though this might be common knowledge to native Texans).

Overall, I'd say that this is a good book to read if you are worried about planting the wrong tree, but don't look for this book to be an end all of information on the tree species listed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent starting point!, April 27, 2004

By A Customer

According to his web site, "Garrett received his Bachelor of Science degree in Park Administration and Landscape Architecture from Texas Tech University in 1969. He is a registered landscape architect, I.S.A. certified arborist, horticulturist, broadcaster and writer."

Howard's observations and preferences have not been developed casually, but are the result of a lifetime of experience. He maintains a firm committment to organic horticulture, and explains his reasons for this more thoroughly in other books.

I would like to see more information crucial to the small city lot (which is after all the realm of most beginning home gardeners), such as appropriate trees for the front of the lot that won't eat the sidewalk. However, it is a fact that a book which covers every issue in tree gardening would be huge and quite costly. For instance, the appearance of oak leaves can vary greatly, even from the same tree. Howard has merely presented pictures covering some of the varying appearances, rather than delving deeply into this subject. He has hit the highlights on most of the important issues, giving us a manageable and affordable book.

Someone who wants an extensive education on this subject will of course want to consult additional books and additional authors. But the beginning gardener (or someone who is new to Texas) would do well to follow Howard's advice, because it does provide an excellent starting point. Many gardening issues are of course a matter of opinion, but Howard's opinions are built on a firm foundation.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars OK, I guess, January 26, 2006

By	P. van Rijckevorsel (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is mostly a listing of the hunderd tree species that are recommended for planting in Texas gardens. Usually per tree there is one page, of which more than half will be devoted to pictures (some trees rate two pages). Printing quality is good with full color photographs throughout.

The information given appears in order (I only browsed through). Picture quality is only so-so. We live in an age of splendid photography, and there are plenty of tree books with pictures of a Wow! quality. The pictures in this book fall well short of such a standard. It looks to be mostly a matter of composition.

I guess this book is OK, but I see no reason for enthousiasm.