Book Description
This comprehensive guide addresses one of the most common problems for gardeners. Shade Gardening has over 250 color photographs of the 350 best trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, bulbs, ground covers, vines, ferns, and grasses for shaded areas. Articles cover the basics of growing plants in the shade as well as such subjects as city gardens, flowers, foliage plants, pests and diseases, and lawns.
Customer Reviews:
Gardening.......2005-08-25
Provides lots of interesting gardening information if you are planting only trees and shrubs. Book does not detail anything for vegetable gardeners. Title should be changed to include the word "Forestry" rather than the broad term 'gardening".
Very helpful handbook.......2005-02-07
This is a great reference for those gardening in shade. It is organized in a logical format and can be easily used. The photos are nice and the information helpful as plants are considered for a shade garden. While it may not be adequate for those gardening in the deep south, it is very well suited to zones 5,6, and 7.
A must have.......2002-06-22
This wonderful little book (thick, but only 4.27" wide) is an absolute necessity for anyone who wishes to do some gardening in a shady area. In fact, this book is really three books rolled into one. The first section looks at shade and shade gardening, it is straightforward and highly informative. The second section is entitled The Color Plates, and gives a long list of shade-loving plants, including a very nice color picture, and a highly informative description. The third section goes hand-in-hand with the second, and gives more in-depth information.
This book is really great, a must have for those of us who wish to do some gardening in a shady area. I highly recommend this book to all gardeners!
Great idea book with pictures of shade lovers.......2001-03-22
The Taylor's Guides are very reliable sources for gardening information and great pictures, and the Shade Gardening Guide is one of the best. Shade gardening is difficult for many reasons. There are not that many very showy flowers for seasons other than Spring, and there are many types of shade. The descriptions are very specific and helpful: light shade, dappled shade, "the more shade, the less moisture is needed," and so on. The soil and shade descriptions for each plant are excellent and detailed.
Although the plants are listed alphabetically for the cultural requirements, the pictures are listed by groups: trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, summer bulbs, ground covers, vines, grasses, and ferns. I would recommend that people using the book for plant selection read the "Encyclopedia of Plants" part as well as the brief but good descriptions with the color pictures.
Keep in mind too that the flowering times are primarily for New England (zone 5). Furthur South you may get earlier and more flowers. For example, Ceratostigma is listed as an Autumn bloomer, while in PA, it blooms from July through October. So you get more than the book suggests. Not bad. Anyone with shade should experiment with the plants in this book. As a gardening professional, I see so many great and underused plants listed and described in this book.
Not a good resource for Southern gardeners.......2000-09-09
Having recently purchased a condo in Houston with a north-facing porch, I eagerly awaited delivery of this book. However, I was quickly disappointed. This book should be titled "Shade Gardening in the North," since virtually all of the plants listed are for Zones 5 and lower...not much help for my Zone 9 garden. It did contain a couple of pages of information for shade gardening in the South (which they consider to be North Carolina!), but I was really looking for specific information on the types of shade plants I could plant here. This would have been a great book if I lived in Ohio, but not so good for us Texans.
Average customer rating:
- Great for "regular people" despite a couple of goofs!
- Mostly good for garden formation ideas, but needs help.
- It genuinely does make a few mistakes
- A Real Keeper and Invaluable Source
- Engaging, well written reference... with a few gaps
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Easy Care Native Plants: A Guide to Selecting and Using Beautiful American Flowers, Shrubs, and Trees in Gardens and Landscapes
Patricia A. Taylor
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
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Landscape
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Similar Items:
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Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening and Conservation
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Native Plant Primer, The: Trees, Shrubs, and Wildflowers for Natural Gardens
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Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines: A Guide to Using, Growing, and Propagating North American Woody Plants
ASIN: 0805038612 |
Book Description
North America's magnificent plant life has a peculiar history in that it is generally regarded as weedy material in its native meadows and woodlands and viewed as a horticultural treasure trove abroad. In Easy Care Native Plants, Patricia A. Taylor seeks to change this situation by emphasizing the elegant beauty, rather than the common naturalness, of American flora and by urging gardeners to capture the exquisite essence of its blossoms and foliage in artistic compositions.The book is divided into three sections, each filled with color photographs and containing special lists of plant recommendations from horticultural experits in the United States, Canada, and Europe. These suggestions include natives for city patios and decks, shrubs for winter interest, colorful flowers for drought situations, and prairie plants for a formal front yard display.The first section reviews the history and current use of native American plants and includes a brief primer on garden design. The second presents profiles of eighteen public and private gardens in Canada and the United States and highlights the crucial role of horticultural organizations and garden clubs in spreading the good news about native flora.The last section is devoted to detailed descriptions of over 500 plants, chosen not only for their handsone appearance but also for their ability to flourish without the use of pesticides or fertilizers. With them, gardeners everywhere will have yearlong beauty requiring minimal maintenance.While many of the plants cited in the book are little known, all are commercially propagated and available. The Appendix lists sources for each plant category and describes a select number of mail-order firms, including ordering information.Easy Care Native Plants has been written and designed to be a usable, definitive resource for the full specturm of those who love and appreciate beautiful plants, from weekend gardeners to landscape designers and architects.
Customer Reviews:
Great for "regular people" despite a couple of goofs! .......2006-08-24
The outstanding characteristic of this book is that it is USABLE by regular, non-professional busy people who love gardening and nature and especially want to respect native plant communities and plant with sensitivity to their own region.
The Bittersweet confusion is terrible, but it is offset by good organization, good photos, and short descriptions on the outside of pages.
Another outstanding feature is that the author includes trees, shrubs, and vines, as well as flowers. This increases the value of this book significantly.
Flowers are wonderful, but people need to get a bit beyond flowers--flowers--flowers. For example, many butterfly species depend upon TREES as host plants and then use flowers for nectar. The distinctive Red Admiral uses trees at all stages of life and leaves the flowers for others.
Thanks to the author for a good down-to-earth reference that answers practical "ordinary" questions. I have recommended this book to a number of people in "wildlife/habitat gardening" classes and have given several as gifts . . . inserting a note about the Bittersweet :-)!
P.S. Yeah, I really should change that ridiculous name. I was under the influence of busy visiting grandchildren when I first reviewed a book here. . . and we do have a great goofy time!
Mostly good for garden formation ideas, but needs help........2005-04-03
I bought this older used book (1996) and find it remains quite relevant. One of the reasons we gardeners end up planting invasive species is because they are easy to grow. In EASY CARE NATIVE PLANTS Patricia Taylor addresses one of the biggest issues for gardeners... "I would grow native species, but I don't have time."
Well, Taylor suggests low maintenance creatures that will be no more work than the invasive plants you intended to install. With Taylor, we visit public and private gardens where individuals are making a difference one plant at a time. From these gardeners, we learn how to construct various gardens including a woodlands garden, a drought tolerant native garden, and a front yard native garden. Taylor provides lists of plants for each of these gardens. For a complementary book, you might consider buying both Taylor's book and 100 EASY-TO-GROW NATIVE PLANTS by Lorraine Johnson which is a kind of annotated plant directory (although it focuses mainly on non-woody plants, whereas Taylor includes trees, shrubs and plants). Alternatively, you can contact the US Fish and Wildlife Service for a free monograph on plant invaders and substitutes at www.nfwf.org. Do that and you are sure to find 'Celastrus orbiculatus' or Oriental Bittersweet on the "No-no" list. Also the latter monograph suggests several native alternatives to bittersweet, such as 'Campsis radicans' (trumpet vine) and 'Passiflora incarnata' or Passion Vine.
It genuinely does make a few mistakes.......2001-06-26
Not to belabor a nitpicker's criticism, but this book does include a few gaffes that compromise its use as a reference. I do very much enjoy the book, and my review below reflects that. But it just gets some things wrong.
For example, the species of Bittersweet southern gardeners have trouble with is Celastrus Orbiculatus -- oriental bittersweet. Yep, it's highly invasive, and yes, it can "consume entire forests" as this author says "bittersweet" does. The native American Species is Celastrus Scandens. The two differ in the position of the berries on the vine, partly... and they also differ in that the native one isn't swallowing entire forests. They're hard for an intelligent amateur to tell apart when looking at an individual plant... which is exactly the problem that this book has, too.
There's a HUGE difference between American chestnuts -- enormous trees now nearly gone from their native range due to blight -- and the shrubby asiatic Chestnuts that were brought in by nurseries and that carried the blight into this country in the first place. That's exactly the sort of distinction a gardener interested in native plants wants to know about, and it's basically the one this book misses with the two Bittersweets. In a lot of cases it's that sort of thing that got us into native gardening in the first place. So, see, it's bad to make this kind of error in a book on native plants.
Again, this is a decent book that just slips up in a few spots.
A Real Keeper and Invaluable Source.......2001-03-05
This is a top-notch gardening book, one that all gardeners can use to enrich their properties. While some may find recommendations by plant experts to be a disadvantage, I like knowing that top horticulturists have carefully selected the plants in this book (southern gardeners tell me that Taylor is right on the mark in describing the American bittersweet). The garden profiles, particularly, for me, the California one, are not only good reads but also packed with useful information. The book is designed to be useful - very easy to look for a yellow flower that blooms all summer or a small shrub with white spring flowers. I turn to it again and again to learn about and find beautiful, interesting and low maintenance plants. I have bought and given 14 of these books as gifts to friends and have received unanimous 5 star reviews from the recipients!
Engaging, well written reference... with a few gaps.......2000-02-26
This is a good choice for the beginning native gardener who needs a sense of the range of native plants available. It's a pleasant browse, and provides a representative sample of the choices you might make with natives. I appreciated the straightforward tone of the writer, who studiously avoided the pretensions of some of the more unctious coffeetable books. Let's just say she's gardening in urban New Jersey, not in northern California, and leave it at that.
On the other hand, there are some gaps in Ms. Taylor's knowledge that make this a less than definitive reference. The short version is that she's often recommending a plant based on the sendup of an arboretum or public garden with which she's corresponded, and that sometimes she hasn't done the research to back that recommendation up. For an egregious example, she describes the American form of Bittersweet (Celastrus Scandens) in a way that clearly demonstrates that she doesn't know the difference between it and the invasive asian form. That sort of slip is a real problem, both philosophically and practically, for someone who's into native plants. Oops.
All in all, I'd say this is a useful book that gets you interested in the plants, but that you should do a healthy amount of leg work elsewhere before you plant. The research is half the fun anyway...
For another native plant reference, with less species but more reliable context and detail, try C. Colston Burrell's A Gardener's Encyclopedia of Wildflowers.
Book Description
Shrubs are the backbone of the garden. Chosen wisely, they will do more for your landscape than any other kind of plant. Chosen carelessly, they can be expensive mistakes. In this handy new TAYLOR'S GUIDE, you'll find the most-sought-after cultivars, offering better flowers, unusual foliage, colorful berries, improved disease tolerance, or compact size and shape for small gardens. Here you can choose the perfect shrubs - to give you privacy and screen out unattractive views - to act as a beautiful focal point or enhance a mixed border - to control erosion or create a ground cover that needs no mowing - for difficult situations such as windy seashores, droughty shade, and wet areas And for every plant in this authoritative book, you'll find detailed how-to-grow information.
Book Description
At the heart of every garden are the plants, which enhance our land and engage our souls. For gardeners, no matter how new or how advanced, whether we cultivate for ourselves or for landscaping clients, plants are the sine qua non. They intrigue us and inspire us. And the more we learn about them, the more they add to our pleasure in gardening. For all of these reasons, every gardener needs a good plant encyclopedia. And, as the only plant encyclopedia written exclusively for North American gardeners, Taylor's Encyclopedia of Garden Plants will be as useful twenty years from now as it is today. If a plant can't be grown on this continent, you won't find it here. Readers will use this book in a number of ways: as a resource for identifying plants, as a guide to purchasing the best species and cultivars for particular gardening locations and growing conditions, and as an important way to save the cost and disappointment of buying plants that won't thrive or will overwhelm a garden. Choosing just the right tree or shrub can add the crowning touch to your landscape plan. Here you'll find expert information about more than a thousand species of trees, shrubs, roses, bulbs, perennials, annuals, and ground covers. Illustrated with 1,200 color photos and hundreds of line drawings, the encyclopedia includes instructions on how to grow the plants and even on how to propagate many of them. An extensive glossary and a common name index make this book accessible to beginners as well as longtime gardeners. Like gardening itself, Taylor's Encyclopedia of Garden Plants will bring its readers immediate pleasure as well as long-term rewards.
Customer Reviews:
Taylor's Encyclopedia of Garden Plants: The Most Authoritative Guide to the Best Flowers, Trees, and Shrubs ..........2007-01-03
Excellent! No gardener should be without it. I have yet to have a plant not listed in this book. It is a large book, but worth it. Beautiful photos. Money well spent!
This is a great book -- but not a quick reference.......2005-04-07
You must read well into the description of a plant to find out if it's shade or sun lover. It's not something you can quickly discern.
Also missing is the distance needed between plants which is so helpful when developing a bed and purchasing more than one of each kind.
GREAT.......2004-07-01
I use this book to look up plants, all the time. It tells you about anything you want to know about flowers, trees, shrubs, etc.
Plants,WOW!!!!.......2003-11-27
This encyclopedia of plants tells you about any plant you ever heard of. If you read this whole book you will know everything and I mean everything about every kind of plant. Every plant will be in your head like white on rice. This is the book you want to read for any kind of plant project. I prefer this book to ANYONE.
Book Description
Trees are the most important, most expensive, and ideally the most permanent plants in a home landscape. Because planting the wrong tree in the wrong place can create serious problems, selecting the right tree is the most important choice a gardener can make. This definitive, handy reference for gardeners, homeowners, and horticultural professionals features * 200 genera and 350 species of shade trees, ornamentals, and conifers, both deciduous and evergreen * The best selections for spring bloom, fall color, showy fruit, ornamental bark, and disease resistance * Trees that will thrive in the hottest and coldest regions of North America * Full-color identification photos to take with you to the nursery * Illustrated instructions on proper pruning, planting, and growing techniques.
Customer Reviews:
NOT a key for ID use........2006-03-20
"Definitive"----???? NO WAY! This book has nice pictures but in no way is it good for identifying trees. There are many better ID books out there. Keep looking if you need an easy to use ID key.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome reference for the beginning shrub gardener!.......2000-09-29
I just purchased a new home and have busily been planning the landscaping. I've been looking for inexpensive references to learn more about some of the shrubs I have chosen and how best to care for them. Taylor's Guide to Shrubs gives an excellent overview of various shrubs, their hardiness, even how to take care of pests! Best of all, it is an easy to use reference!
I was able to identify many of the shrubs I've picked out and how they will look when flowering in a matter of moments. I recommend this for anyone who likes landscaping and needs a reference for their home.
Book Description
Clear explanation of general techniques and tools Specific instructions about how, when, and where to prune 70 different plants
Customer Reviews:
Clear, practical guide with helpful text and illustrations.......2001-10-25
I recently moved into a house with a yard and a variety of trees, vines, and Roses. I have read large gardening references before in attempts to prune planter box trees and gardens, but never walked away with the sense that I could actually prune and train my plants successfully. This book began with definitions of terminology, tool selection, and provided clear text and multiple helpful drawings and pictures all geared towards the intelligent adult. It addreses the unique properties of the various fruit trees, rose bushes, vines, and shrubs, and gives advice as to when to hire and how to choose an arborist. It helped me understand the impact of pruning and has made me a more educated 'tree' observer.
I cannot see myself ever needing to buy another pruning book! I would highly recommend this for complete and straight forward pruning guide.
Average customer rating:
- Nice
- Why This Book Is Great
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A Field Guide to Common South Texas Shrubs (Learn About Texas)
Richard B. Taylor ,
Jimmy Rutledge , and
Joe G. Herrera
Manufacturer: Texas Parks and Wildlife Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Trees
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Plants
| Biological Sciences
| Science
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General
| Trees
| Plants
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General
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Reference
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Similar Items:
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Field Guide to the Broad-Leaved Herbaceous Plants of South Texas: Used by Livestock and Wildlife
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Trees, Shrubs, & Cacti of South Texas
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Common Texas Grasses: An Illustrated Guide (W. L. Moody, Jr., Natural History)
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Texas Range Plants (The W.L. Moody Jr. Natural History Series, No 13)
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Lone Star Field Guide to Wildflowers, Trees, and Shrubs of Texas, Revised Edition (Lone Star Field Guides)
ASIN: 1885696140 |
Book Description
There are over 281 species of woody plants and 32 species of cacti in the South Texas ecological region. The vast majority of these are found in the lower Rio Grande Valley, which is part of the subtropical Tamaulipan biotic province. Many of the plant species in this area reach their northernmost boundary here. The 44 plants described in this guide represent an estimated 75% of the overall brush biomass of the South Texas ecological region, excluding the lower Rio Grande Valley.
The plants are grouped into thorned and thornless categories and alphabetized by family. Distinguishing characteristics have been italicized for easy reference. Similar species are also noted. In this guide, plants are not ranked by importance because their value to animals can differ from ranch to ranch, depending on the plant's availability and the ranch's location, soil type, and land management practices. In case a plant is not found in this guide or more information is desired, a list of additional references is included.
Customer Reviews:
Nice.......2003-12-04
This book(let) has much to commend it. It is excellently printed on glossy paper. Picture quality generally is excellent. The text is neatly organized, with botanical names properly written (even synonyms provided where necessary, in footnotes).
Still, it feels like something is missing. Maybe it is that I would expect a book(let) that focuses on 44 species to offer extensive pictorial coverage. Ususally a book will have many species with few pictures each or few species with many pictures each (or at least full-sized ones). Maybe it is the fact that although the title promises "shrubs" the plants covered are all over the place (including two Cacti, one Yucca, many trees and even a "perennial shrub" on p84).
There does appear to be nothing really wrong here (disregarding the allegation that Ephedra has "fruit") and it is a really nice book(let), but still somewhat unsatisfying.
Why This Book Is Great.......2002-08-24
I use this book with 7th and 8th grade students when doing field ecology studies. The reason I really like it is because it not only provides a closeup photograph of the leaves, wood and seeds but ALSO provides a photograph of the entire plant, as it looks to a student walking up to it. Additionally it gives data on the nutritional value to wildlife and livestock as well as native uses. Botany is a personal weakness, but I find the book easy to use. A field guide for botany bozos. Experts may like it too, but I cannot speak to that. (We use it to identify vegetation in West Texas too.)
Customer Reviews:
Taylor's Guide to Trees.......2005-10-07
This tree book has been so helpful to my husband and I as we planned the landscaping of our new yard 6 years ago. So helpful, in fact, we recommend the book to friends who have also found it useful. The book is very helpful in describing what species of tree to plant for our zone. This small book is filled with very useful information. And, I like that the scientific names are used so that we do not make a mistake and purchase the wrong species. The book is filled with pictures and descriptions of what the tree will look like at maturity.
Nearly useless.......2000-10-16
While the Taylor guide provides some useful information, such as how tall a tree may be at various ages, unless you know the latin name for the tree in question, it is nearly impossible to find anything!! Unless you're a botonist, don't buy it!
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- The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest
- The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications
- The Essential Garden Book
- The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement (New Narratives in American History)
- The Home Depot Outdoor Projects 1-2-3 (Home Depot ... 1-2-3)
- The Lost Art of Towel Origami
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Taylor's 50 Best Perennials for Shade: Easy Plants for More Beautiful Gardens (Taylor's 50 Best)
Making the Most of Shade: How to Plan, Plant, and Grow a Fabulous Garden that Lightens up the Shadows
Taylor's Guide to Shrubs: How to Select and Grow More than 500 Ornamental and Useful Shrubs for Privacy, Ground Covers, and Specimen Plantings
The Complete Shade Gardener
Taylor's Guide to Perennials
