Customer Reviews

What's Doin' the Bloomin'? Revised Edition:A Pictorial Guide to Wildflowers of the Upper Great Lakes Regions, Eastern Canada and Northeastern U. S. A.

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This is one of the finest books on Midwestern wildflowers. I originally bought the book for my mother and then needed one for myself. I continually pour through this book in anticipation of spring and as I find something in the woods that needs identifying. The book contains great pictures and is organized in general order of appearance in the wild.

I bought this book at a State park in North Central Minnesota because it was laid out so one could identify plants by their flowers and the season they bloomed in. I had no problem thumbing through the book while on my walk and identifying the plants I was seeing. There are numerous cross references to similar looking flowers, and notes on how to tell the two plants apart. This book will go far in positively identifying plants for you.

The photographs are clearly reproduced in color. This is a BEAUTIFUL book. Not a lot of written material. The descriptions are brief so you'll need to do further research if you are looking into whether a plant is edible. The common name is given first followed by the Scientific name, followed by the Latin Family name with the common family name in parenthesis. For example: Bittersweet Nightshade, Solanum dulcamara, Solanaceae (Tomato) Family. The book is carryable on a nature walk, but if you are going for any distance, it will get heavy after a while. The book is aimed at the north eastern USA and South Eastern Canada. It covered most everything I saw on my walk today except for a "Grape" type of plant.

Non-native plants are are covered along with the native plants without any prejudice. Just a matter of fact "This is what grows here" type of book. A few of the common grasses are covered as well on 6 pages, but the emphasis is obviously on flowering plants here.

I ordered this book for my Mom for Mother's Day and was I surprised when I recieved it in the mail. The pictures are absolutely incredible and the descriptions are just as impressive. If this author had more books in this series, I would ABSOLUTELY buy them!! I'm sure that my mother will LOVE this book and use it as a reference every day.