Wildly Successful Plants: Northern California [Paperback]

Pam Peirce (Author), David Goldberg (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2004

Pam Peirce pinpoints 50 often overlooked main plant species that effortlessly add dazzle to gardens throughout Northern California. These tough yet beautiful plants bloom yearlong and persevere in gardens despite neglect, drought, or frost. This book profiles these “regional survivors," spotlighting such plants as calla lilies, nasturtiums, cineraria, and more. A resource for all gardeners, it includes chapters on the history, climate, and care of plants, as well as weeds, annuals, perennials, bulbs, succulents/cactus, and shrubs. It also contains lists of other well-adapted plants beyond those in the 50 species profiled.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Golden Gate Gardening "Pam Peirce has come by her knowledge of the soils and wather patterns of the Bay Area...Her writing is authoritative and her enthusiasm infectious.....Sasquatch Books is to be commended for this latest in its coninuin

About the Author

Pam Peirce has been a gardener for over 30 years. David Goldberg is a horticultural photographer. They both live in San Francisco.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books (February 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570613583
• ISBN-13: 978-1570613586
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,043,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "Toxic Plants *in* Northern California: What Not to Plant!", April 6, 2006

By 

Laura (north central California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wildly Successful Plants: Northern California (Paperback)

I am thoroughly disappointed in this book. I was seduced by the word "successful" in the title. A better word which more accurately tells what's in this book is "TOXIC." A better title would be "Toxic Plants *in* Northern California: What Not to Plant!" Note that I didn't say "Toxic Plants *of* Northern California" -- many plants here are not "OF California" and are regrettably already "IN California" as unwanted pests.

A bunch of these plants mentioned you should NOT plant because they invade wild habitats, or are hard to remove, or are weeds or borderline weeds, or natives of other continents, or are a nuisance, or are otherwise plants of ill-repute when located in California -- plants which do NOT belong in ANY California garden due to their high levels of risk and danger to native ecosystems. As the author says, many are close to being put on a California Exotic Pest Plant Council's "don't use" plant list, if they are not on already.

The author goes to a lot of trouble highlighting certain plants, then turns around and gives good reasons why they should NOT be planted in California gardens -- in my opinion, many are clearly UNWISE and/or IRRESPONSIBLE to purposely plant in one's garden. So why write such a book? If you want a book to tell what NOT TO PLANT in Northern California, this is the book for you -- I didn't expect this sort of emphasis and wasted $16.

Three better books:

1) East Bay Municipal District's "Plants and Landscapes for Summer-dry Climates"
ISBN 0-9753231-1-3

2) Carol Bornstein, David Fross and Bart O'Brien's "California Native Plants for the Garden"
ISBN 0-9628505-8-6

3) Sunset's "California Top 10 Garden Guide"
ISBN 0-376-03529-3

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars How to Grow Non-native WEEDS, May 16, 2006

By 

Turn a New Leaf "Turn a New Leaf" (San Mateo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wildly Successful Plants: Northern California (Paperback)

The title of the book is so great! Who wouldn't want to grow Wildly Successful Plants? However most of the plants listed in the book are non-native and the author does caution against planting the ones that are invasive. Sometimes a plant that is so successful that it grows everywhere and takes over is really a weed. This is a fine book as long as one takes precautions against letting the invasive plants take over.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Love this book, April 17, 2006

By 

A. Posey (Emeryville, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wildly Successful Plants: Northern California (Paperback)

I keep this book close at hand. Being an amateur gardener, I found much of the information in this book to be particularly useful and relevant for living in Northern California. The author covers everything from the 6 different "hardiness zones" in Northern California to proper garden maintenance, and provides a huge colorful array of plants and flowers which will thrive in your garden.

Divided into 7 sections, such as "perennials", each plant has impressive descriptions-- water needs, light needs, hardiness, bloom time, height and spread, etc. The photography of each plant is wonderful, and really allows you to see each plant, and how you might be able to incorporate it into your garden or landscaping.