Customer Reviews

Wildly Successful Plants: Northern California

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

 

 

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

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.

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.

THIS BOOK HAS BEEN CRITICIZED FOR PROMOTING THE PLANTING OF INVASIVE PLANTS. I FOUND IT NOT AT ALL MINDLESSLY GUNG HO ABOUT PLANTING WHAT SPREADS. INSTEAD I FOUND FASCINATING HISTORY ABOUT MANY OF THE PLANTS THAT I AM FAMILIAR WITH. MORE IMPORTANTLY,THE BOOK GAVE ME INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT IS INVASIVE, HOW INVASIVENESS IS RATED , WHAT MAKES PLANTS RISKY,ETC. THERE WERE SOME REAL SURPRISES. FOR INSTANCE, I LEARNED THAT PYRACANTHA, A PLANT I HAD THOUGHT OF AS ECOLOGY-FRENDLY BECAUSE IT FEEDS BIRDS AND IS DROUGHT-TOLERANT, HAS ESCAPED INTO BEAUTIFUL WILD AREAS. THE BERRIES ARE DISTRIBUTED BY BIRDS, AND THE MEDITERRANEAN-TYPE PLANTS WE ARE ENCOURAGED TO PLANT (BECAUSE THEY SAVE WATER)SOMETIMES HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO DISPLACE NATIVE PLANTS AND THEREFORE WILDLIFE. I GOT THIS OUT OF THE LIBRARY AND PLAN TO BUY IT AS AN EXCELLENT REGIONAL RESOURCE. BECAUSE OF ITS EXCELLENT INFORMATION, I EXPECT TO PLANT MORE NATIVE PLANTS, NOT LESS.

I'd like to offer a rebuttal to Laura, who titled her review "Toxic Plants *in* Northern California: What Not to Plant!" None of the plants listed are 'toxic.' Laura's review is exaggerated!

"Wildly Successful" means "easy to grow, quick-growing, easy care." These plants are vigorous. But 'vigorous' doesn't mean 'problematic.' Vigor is what's needed for community greening projects, where hardy, low-maintenance plants are required. In fact, this book is recommended by city staff who work with neighborhood greening projects.

Laura should remember that this is not a book for the advanced gardener. It's a book that guarantees success for the beginner, or for community projects where tough, fast-growing plants are required.

"Wildly Successful Plants" provides a fresh perspective on a segment of plants that are constantly demeaned in the landscape. As designers we are charged with considering all possibilities for a site and making appropriate choices. This book brings an often ignored segment of plants back into the fold for consideration. While the plants on the list are not right for every situation, many should discover new life in appropriate settings. The book provides extensive cautions about incorrect use of "wild plants" and shares the esthetic qualities that we love about plants. As a professor of Horticulture and a Landscape Architect, I suggest you ignore the diatribes of the narrow minded and read "Wildly Successful Plants", and any plant book that you can find, to widen your perspective on design.

The book is more full of what not to plant then what to plant. If the recommendations for planting are followed the gardener will end up with aggressive weeds that are "wildly successful."