Customer Reviews:
Well written.......2007-06-05
Really now... What is there to say about a worm book? Can it actually be INTERESTING? Well, this book held my attention well, taught me many things I did not know, did not burden me with super technical bunk that I do not need or want to know, and was a detailed, well rounded book on the topic.
That said, I think the book was excellent.
Of course, a more recent publication would be better (for instance: no mention of european nightcrawlers -- something rather recent on the American worm market)... but this book gave me ALL the information that I needed to begin raising worms and understanding the HOW's and WHY's of worms and vermiculture.
Squirm of worms revisited........2007-03-24
This is one of the two books most recommended by the vermiculture sites that I have visited. It is a comprehensive guide. It is a great book for children and adults who want to raise worms. It's easy to understand. It is a "most" before you buy the redworms. The only reason I give it a 4 is because it is so basic that young children can understand it and I am quite a bit older.
review for worm guide.......2007-03-12
great information for the novice, or as a review guide for the more experienced. topics are easily referenced, and written to be understood.
the only reason it did not receive 5 stars is it was published in the late 90's so some of the data given is outdated. as far as the how to it is 5 stars.
Practical and informative enough to be a science textbook!.......2006-12-24
This is a well researched, not to mention well written book. Each page has pertinent information presented in an easy to read format. It isn't padded with a lot of fluff, and you feel like a friend is sharing information with you. I'm planning to use it as an additional textbook while homeschooling my 3 kids, and will certainly keep it handy as a reference book.
An outstanding resource.......2006-11-17
I highly recommend this book. It's quite comprehensive and would be helpful to newcomers to worm composting as well as those whose bins are already underway. Not folksy or corny, this book is serious but straight-forward and easy to understand.
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.
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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
Planting "by the signs" is an ancient tradition carried on by millions of people. This book explains the logic of gardening by the signs of the moon and shows how it works, giving clear and complete instructions for calculating the moon's effect on every aspect of gardening -- preparing the soil, cultivating, planting, fertilizing, transplanting, pruning, grafting, controlling weeds and pests, harversting. It also explains how the moon affects many other areas of life and how the moon signs can be employed for best results in these matters. No almanac user should be without this comprehensive one-source reference.
Customer Reviews:
I'm so Impressed with the book " Raising With The Moon . . .".......2007-05-08
I've never gardened by the signs of the moon until this year. As a matter of fact I haven't done much gardening and thinking back, I just remembered my mother did plant and harvest everything by the signs of the zodiac and she had great luck with her gardens. This year I ordered the book "Raising With the Moon: The Complete Guide to Gardening and Living by the Signs of the Moon by Jack R. Pyle. Going by this book, I've planted everything for my vegetable garden and my flower garden and I'm so impressed. Everything is growing and looks great. I really believe I'll have great luck with this type of gradening just the way my mother did.
/s/ Jo Padgett
Gardening by the signs of the moon.......2006-02-27
As a child growing up in a farming community, I always heard things like; never geld a horse during a full moon, etc. What I'd thought were old wive's tales are finally explained in this delightful book! Besides giving insight to what we often heard in the farmer's almanacs, this book breaks it down into easy to read explanations. There is also a planting guide, a chapter on soil preparation, and plenty of details as to why these rules make perfect sense. Finally, everything I'd heard as a child about these ancient planting traditions has been explained. Maybe now I can actually grow that garden I've dreamed of?
Chrissy K. McVay - Author
Book Description
Winter doesn't have to be a dreary wasteland for northern gardeners. Even when flowers won't bloom, you can have a garden that's colorful and full of visual interest. This book describes the best evergreens, trees and shrubs with colorful twigs and bark, ornamental grasses, and winter fruits and berries that will liven your yard - and then shows you how to take care of them.
Customer Reviews:
Good advice for a year-round garden.......2004-10-02
The author suggests that you plan your garden with winter in mind. She explains which plants need special care and how to care for them. She shows how to improve plant survival, where and how to plant more sensitive species to avoid damage from snow or frost, how to protect plants from frozen soil, etc.
Buchanan organizes her book by plants that stay green over winter (evergreens), have showy bark or twigs, bear fruits or berries, and by grasses and first flowers. Within each group, she suggests several plants and describes them (look, height, light requirements, growing zone, and attraction points). About a quarter of the plants are shown in photographs. The book is a great reference for anyone interested in creating a year-round attractive garden.
Some good ideas..........2001-07-27
For those who live in cold climates, or those who want to be assured of some year-round interest from their plantings, this is a good source of ideas. The Winter Garden lists (with many color photographs) plants of all types and sizes which remain interesting in winter for their color, shape, berries, or texture. It's a good book to read for gardeners who are suffering from let down when the blooming season passes. I found this bit of advice useful: plan any landscape as if it were a winter landscape. Then you will be assured of some beauty all year, and even more so when the flowers do finally pop up. Also, plant an evergreen shrub and maybe some ornamental grass (or Christmas ferns) in the center of a garden bed; colorful annuals and perennials can surround this when weather permits.
Book Description
Planting in containers makes gardening available to everyone. Containers are as tempting to the owner of country acreage as to the city gardener whose "land" extends no further than a balcony or a windowsill. Full-color photos of container gardens and of plants suitable for pots make this one of our most beautiful, as well as unusual, guides.
Book Description
Making Gardens shows that, by looking at well-made gardens and analyzing the nature of their design, any gardener can learn from other people's experiences. Patrick Taylor presents color photos of 40 gardens, most of them private and designed by amateurs. In each example the site, materials, and plants are analyzed in detail. A catalog of the hundreds of plants mentioned in the garden examples gives useful cultivation details.
Book Description
You'll learn how to select the perfect site, choose the size and shape of your garden, and install preformed or flexible-liner pools, as well as how to select pumps and filters, test and treat the water, and choose the right plants and fish for your own unique garden environment. A comprehensive gallery of plants will inspire you to try this increasingly popular form of gardening.
Customer Reviews:
Clear, complete and well illustrated........2002-11-12
Excellent guide that I highly recommend. This is well organized, clear, complete and is very well illustrated. This is an excellent book on water gardening that will be particularly helpful to beginners, but also contains interesting and creative ideas for the more experienced water gardener.
Just fair.......2000-07-28
For the beginner this is a decent INTRODUCTION to water gardens but it is loaded with inconsistencies, lacks definitions (a glossary), is illogical in many places and left me frustrated many times trying to understand the basic stuff. Again a decent introduction to water gardening but the serious "gardener" would be well advised to look to other sources.
water gardening.......2000-04-14
lots of great tips in here for a beginner. this helped me out a lot
Book Description
Nature's colorful creatures will flock to the yard when you follow the guidelines set forth in this book. Attractive flowers and natural plantings will attract birds and butterflies throughout the season.
Customer Reviews:
attractingbirds and butterflies to your garden.......2007-01-04
The butterflies were a definate plus in my garden this year, will be working on the birds this year!
Book Description
Capture the elusive beauty of fragrant flowers with the help of Peter Loewer, the author and/or illustrator of more than 30 gardening books.
Customer Reviews:
lovely pictures.......2002-03-27
The photographs in this book are gorgeous and the text is interesting, informative and inspiring. Rather than leaping right into a description of flowering plants, however, the author begins with a chapter on smell itself, discussing it's importance, the fragrances that were popular in the Victorian era and those that are sought after today. The plants themselves are divided by type: annuals (which, for some reason, is where he puts scented geraniums); perennials; roses; bulbs, corms and tubers; shrubs and vines; water gardens; night gardens; and scented houseplants. Each chapter describes a large variety of plants and explains where and how to grow them. Also included is a design map for planting a border of annuals; a brief section on the diseases and pests that attack roses; a short chapter on general garden maintenance; and a complete index (but no list of suppliers).
The author has an easy to read, rambling writing style. He tells stories, gives personal reflections, supplies quotes from litereature and horticultural writings, and clearly know his subject. If you are looking for a general book on fragrant gardens, then you'll probably like this one a great deal. But if you're looking for more of a guide to scented plants, which ones to grow where, in a concise format, then this isn't the book for you. The author does supply light/water/soil requirements and hardiness zones for the plants in the book, but it's included in the text, it isn't in an easy-to-find table which means that you have to read through the entire thing in order to find appropriate plants for your garden.
This book is so pretty and fun to read that it would make a nice present for someone who likes to read gardening literature but it really isn't for the person who, like myself, was looking for quick reference guide to the types of scented plants for zone 5 that grow in full sun and under dense trees.
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.
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- Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring
- Wildlife Warrior: Steve Irwin: 1962 - 2006, a Man Who Changed the World
- Wiring 1-2-3 (Home Depot ... 1-2-3)
- Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year (Wise Woman Herbal Series, Book 1) (Wise Woman Herbal Series : No. 1)
- A Passion for Flowers
- A Passion for Flowers
- All New Square Foot Gardening
- American Horticultural Society Pruning & Training (American Horticultural Society Practical Guides)
- Art of the Japanese Garden
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