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Tracy DiSabato-Aust's Well-Designed Mixed Garden provides sound direction for plant lovers looking to free their garden from the doldrums and fashion a rich tapestry of trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, vines, grasses, and bulbs. Encyclopedic in scope yet unfailingly attentive to essential details, The Well-Designed Mixed Garden effectively summarizes an array of basic garden design considerations and fundamentals. There are particularly useful chapters on color theory and on drawing up a plan, with precise instructions on what size plants to purchase and how to space them. As with her highly regarded Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques, DiSabato-Aust delves eagerly into plant maintenance, a topic too many garden writers overlook. Though many examples are from the author's own garden or other American Midwest locations, they're largely applicable to other plant hardiness zones. Of particular appeal are a nicely photographed section on attractive plant combinations and a series of handy appendixes for plant selection. Beginners may be overwhelmed by this book's wealth of information, but its comprehensiveness renders it all the more valuable for seasoned gardeners seeking greater practical know-how and a surer grasp of the art of gardening. --Jennifer Wyatt
Book Description
The Well-Designed Mixed Garden is a design book with a difference. Written for gardeners who are passionate about plants of all kinds (hence the "mixed garden" of the title), it reflects decades of professional experience and artistic innovation. As with her bestselling book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, master designer and plantswoman Tracy DiSabato-Aust provides not only inspiration but also scrupulously organized information on design and connoisseur plants — all from original research dating back to her degree work in horticulture.
Her new offering is a master class of design fundamentals, with an emphasis on often-neglected topics, such as site evaluation, color theory, and planning for maintenance. It is also a gallery of detailed design plans that show how ideas are put onto paper and then translated into three dimensions. Lessons learned in its first two parts are strengthened in an "Encyclopedia of Plant Combinations"; each entry notes the design considerations at play and provides tips on how to keep the combination looking its best. And the lifetime care needs and unique design characteristics of featured plants are summarized in the useful charts and lists that conclude the book. The result is a nearly foolproof guide to every aspect of designing superior gardens with superior plants. With more than 250 color photos and illustrations, this book is as much a feast for the eyes as it will be a trusted reference for the library shelf.
Customer Reviews:
A Flower Gardener's Companion.......2007-09-03
Comprehensive and very user friendly. A book every home flower gardner would want to have.
OK, but not as good as I thought it would be.......2007-05-16
I've heard other gardeners talk about Tracy's books and what an inspiration they are, so I bought "The Well-Designed Mixed Garden" expecting to learn some GREAT ideas for my gardens. It has some good information on principles of design and how to work with color, texture, and so on. But I was disappointed at how weak and uninspiring the section is on plant combinations. She calls it an "encyclopedia of plant combinations," and the section is full of photos of flowers and plants she thinks are winning combinations. The combinations mostly have no real visual appeal, the photos (in that section) are plain, and it's a wasted section of the book. I think there was only one of these combinations that actually looked beautiful. Most of these photos were from her own garden, and perhaps she let her personal affection for her own gardens cloud her judgment on what to include.
I like the rest of the book, however, and her examples of garden designs in other parts of the book have good photos and design layout drawings that are quite useful.
Useful no matter what your garden needs.......2007-05-13
This book is so helpful in figuring out how to mix flowers and plants in border-type gardens. It details color combinations and tells what flowers go well together. It provides pictures of various gardens in different season to provide an idea of how the landscape will look in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.
Very good information and easy to understand.......2007-02-05
This is the first book I would recomend to anyone! Ms. Disabato-Aust compiles a vast amount of quality information in one book, and she explains abstract concepts in a way that regular people who aren't master gardeners can understand. She also includes insights from her vast experience; it's not a dry recitation seen in other sources. She explains when and why to break the generally-accepted guidelines.
I've been a hard-core gardener for about three years, and I've already gleaned some of the information from other sources. But I had to read a lot of different books and articles to get it, and it was often contradictory. The book not only ties it all together in a cohesive manner, but gives very detailed examples.
I particularly enjoyed the section on combinations, where Ms. Disabato-Aust explains why certain things work together in a converational tone. Far from being a preening dilletante, the author's manner is friendly and warm.
I only had two complaints, and they are possibly unique to me. As you might expect, the "example" gardens shown used Ms. Disabato-Aust's style of gardening. It's wonderful, but I have a different style, and would have appreciated seeing the gardening principles illustrated using different styles. Second, I garden in North Florida. A fair number of the plants that look so beautiful in her Ohio garden wouldn't make it in North Florida.
Destined to be a classic garden reference........2006-03-24
I'm a master gardener from Illinois,and have heard Tracy Disabato-Aust on a number of occasions. Her book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden has long been our bible for perennials. In this new book, she makes accessible for all gardeners the depth of her experience and research in incorporating many kinds of plants in a mixed border. The book is worth buying for the appendices alone: plants by design and maintenance characteristics as well as common/scientific name cross-references. A must-have garden reference book!
Book Description
North America's eastern half, roughly from the Midwest to the Atlantic, was once a great deciduous forest. Although centuries of human intervention have cleared much of the land, the timeless forest remains in the spirit of the place. Today, even the shortest period of human neglect allows for the resurgence of the process of forest creation. The greatest gardens — and happiest gardeners — in this area will be those that take into account the nature of the land.
In his unique, and often thought-provoking new book, award-winning author Darke promotes and stunningly illustrates a garden aesthetic based on the strengths and opportunities of the woodland, including play of light, sound, and scent; seasonal drama; and the architectural interest of woody plants.
While written from a compelling and fresh perspective, The American Woodland Garden never strays from the realistic concerns of the everyday gardener. Information on planting, soils, and maintenance provides a firm foundation for horticultural accomplishment. An alphabetical list of woodland plants offers useful advice for every garden, emphasizing native trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, grasses, sedges, and flowering perennials that fit the forest aesthetic. More than 700 of the author's stunning photographs show both the natural palette of plants in the wild and the effects that can be achieved with them in garden settings. Many of the most striking photos in the book were taken at classic gardens that are paragons of an ecological style.
The American Woodland Garden is a clarion call to a new awareness of our relationship to the natural world. This book will take its rightful place among the classic works that have influenced our concept of the American landscape.
Customer Reviews:
Food for the soul........2007-07-10
If you live near the edge of woodlands as we do, you'll find this book to be a valuable source of information. It's a challenge to landscape the transition from woodland to home, but this book provides the knowledge needed to make that happen. And if you love to live in or near woodland areas as much as we do, you'll appreciate the wonderful photographs.
Must have book for woodland gardeners.......2007-05-14
This man is the best photographer of the woodlands and a great speaker. Would purchase any book by him.
Great Book!.......2007-03-26
I am a novice gardener but this book gives great advice and great choices from groundcover to shrubs and trees for the woodsy landscape. I refer to this book all the time.
Inspiration for Your Own Woodland Garden.......2007-03-18
A gorgeous, substantive book. It's not a how-to in a conventional sense, but it will definitely get your creative juices flowing in terms of your own woodlands. If you've never thought about "color palette" for plantings, you'll really enjoy this book.
A book of wonders........2007-02-12
This is simply the best book in my garden library. It is a way of looking at the environment around us, an ethos complete with pictures, information, and instruction. Be sure to buy this book in hardback, because paperback binding will never survive the hard useage this book will receive in your home.
Book Description
This is among the first books published by Timber Press, and after more than two decades it continues to be one of our signature bestsellers. A comprehensive source of information on the culture, identification, and nomenclature of Japanese maples, it describes each of the 320 cultivars of Acer palmatum and 60 cultivars of other Japanese maple species, plus briefly mentions 150 promising new plants. The index lists every horticultural name published, ensuring that Japanese Maples will continue to be the foremost reference book on this wonderfully versatile collection of ornamental plants.
This fully updated third edition has been revised by Peter Gregory and is even more international than its predecessors. It adds approximately 100 important new maple hybrids and selections that have been introduced since the last revision by Vertrees in 1987, bringing to nearly 400 the total number of plants described. Nomenclature has been updated to conform to current standards, many additional photographs have been included, and descriptions have been rearranged for greater ease of reference.
Customer Reviews:
A must have.......2007-08-31
Though I have not digested the entire volume yet, I am constantly consulting its pages. As a fairly novice collector of these plants, I have found this book to be indespinsable. The introduction of new cultivars as well as many new photographs make volume three a superior reference.
Aborist and Horticultural essential.......2007-06-10
A very informed and illustrated book with almost every 300+ cultivar imaginable. Also gives cultivar no longer cultivated, with all the names of cultivar including many misnames used and cultivar which have been produced which are not confirmed or are instable. The book has a detail list of species in brief form for quick reference when planting of considering cultivar.I look forward to the updated with the newer cultivar.
The only thing lacking is more detail on growing and producing cultivar. eg.grafting,cutting, and pruning, etc which you have to get from other texts.
Japanese Maples.......2007-03-12
THE reference book on Japanese maples. Excellent information and pictures. Very usual for my purposes in selecting trees to fit my property and conditions.
Japanese Maples Review.......2006-08-13
This is an excellent book. J.D. Vertrees did a wonderful job of classifying the various Japanese Maples. The revision and expansion done by Peter Gregory has added to J.D.'s original work.
The pictures are excellelnt. This is a must have book for every Bonsai/Japanese maple enthusiast.
Newer is Not Always Better.......2006-04-24
Before you consider purchasing this book, I strongly suggest you try to find the second edition, which, while less comprehensive, is better organized. In addition, a comparison of the two finds that some of the best images in the second edition were not carried over to the third.
The worst shortcoming of both editions is the lack of images of fully grown trees. It's nice to know what the leaves look like but, if you are trying to identify a particular plant or select one for your garden, you need much more than is provided here. Of course, with the incredible number of Acer Palmatum cultivars, it is unlikely any one book can do more than scratch the surface.
Nevertheless, the second edition is the first book on Japanese Maples I would buy - as a matter of fact, I just bought one after mine wandered.
Book Description
For every gardener desiring to add apples, pears, cherries, and other tree fruit to their landscape here are hints and solid information from a professional horticulturist and experienced fruit grower. The Backyard Orchardist includes help on selecting the best fruit trees and information about each stage of growth and development, along with tips on harvest and storage of the fruit. Those with limited space will learn about growing dwarf fruit trees in containers.
Appendices include a fruit-growers monthly calendar, a trouble-shooting guide for reviving ailing trees, and a resource list of nurseries selling fruit trees.
Book Description
With their delicate foliage, seasonal color changes, and intricate pattern of branching, Japanese maples are among the most popular and suitable plants for bonsai design. In this long-awaited book, internationally renowned expert Peter Adams discusses both the specific horticultural needs of Japanese maples as bonsai subjects and illustrates proven techniques for creating and maintaining beautiful specimens. Although aimed at an audience that has some familiarity with bonsai techniques, the book deliberately shows a mix of bonsai at different stages in their training, so that less experienced enthusiasts can gain new ideas and inspiration from trees that are "works in progress." Much more than a mere "how-to" book, Bonsai with Japanese Maples is a forthright attempt to look at bonsai as art objects and to critique and assess them from an artist's perspective.
Customer Reviews:
Everything you ever wanted to know about Maples.......2007-05-14
Great detailed instructions on growing, training and styling bonsai maple trees. Excellent pictures and graphics. He covers several different techniques, some I had never seen discussed anywhere else. Good discussion of the general cultural conditions specific to maples. Suitable for any experience level.
Japanese Maples.......2007-03-29
This book is great. There's a lot of detail specific to trident and japanese maples. I would definitely recommend this to anyone with maples.
The perfect product for bonsai interested maple lovers.......2007-01-22
Bonsai with Japanese Maples by Peter Adams has all you will ever need to know about maples in bonsai. Excellent colour photos, techniques are explained in adequate depth and it is well worth the price, I paid shipping to Australia just for this product. The only issue of concern is that one should read a basic bonsai book for a few clarifications on wording, that is to say it is written for an intermediate-bonsai audience.
After all these years.......2007-01-05
I first saw this book as a bonsai student but it was already out of print. After years of searching, and seeing prices over $150, I am really happy to see it in re-print. It is the seminal Japanese maple book with many ideas that can be used for any deciduous tree. I strongly recommend it for anyone doing bonsai.
Average customer rating:
- Outstanding Magnolia References
- Everything you need to know
- A "must" for the serious horitculturalist and home gardner.
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Magnolias: A Gardener's Guide
Jim Gardiner
Manufacturer: Timber Press, Incorporated
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Magnolias
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ASIN: 0881924466 |
Book Description
Revered by gardeners since ancient times, when they were brought into cultivation in Asia, magnolias have lost none of their allure. In fact, a steady supply of new magnolias has become available in recent years, from both newly discovered species and newly created hybrids, making the genus a source of greater horticultural excitement than ever before. Though loosely based on the author's 1989 book of the same name, Magnolias is so extensively revised and expanded as to be considered an entirely new book. This highly illustrated survey of the genus includes species and hybrids, extensive information on cultivation and propagation, and more than 150 fine photographs. The appendices list societies, plants for specific landscape situations, plants that have received awards, and places to see and buy magnolias.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Magnolia References.......2007-09-20
This is a fabulous reference for owners of magnolia trees and all persons considering planting a magnolia at any time in the future. This book will give you detailed information on habit, growth rate and hardiness that is a level of specificity well above most nurseries. My only wish was for more pictures, there seem to be multiple pictures of a few select species but none for the majority of those listed in the book. However, the title includes "A gardener's guide" rather than "Encyclopedia" so I did not feel misled.
Everything you need to know.......2003-05-24
The book is a very thorough examination of the genus magnolia, both species and hybrids, with chapters on history, cultivation, propagation, pests and an excellent section on which species and hybrids to choose for your garden.
While not for the casual gardener, I found much to recommend to any serious gardener considering an ornamental tree.
This is no doubt the authoriative text on the subject and a very interesting read.
A "must" for the serious horitculturalist and home gardner........2000-08-04
Gardeners interested in an in-depth coverage of magnolia hybrids, species, and their care will find this offers all the detail they require, charting the magnolia's culture, characteristics, and history. Magnolias isn't for the casual gardener, but for those devoted to the magnolia in particular and horticulture in general: a recommended pick for any serious horticultural library.
Book Description
The sheer number of choices among Hydrangea species, hybrids, and cultivated varieties can be overwhelming even for the most advanced gardeners. How to choose from among the hundreds of mopheads, climbers, lacecaps, and oakleafs, to name just a few? And how to care for hydrangeas in American gardens, when nearly all the books offering advice about them come from England and Europe? Respected plantsman Michael A. Dirr comes to the rescue in this refreshingly forthright and practical guide to these distinctive shrubs and climbers.
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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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
Conifers for Gardens is intended to take away the element of uncertainty when you're choosing a plant that may alter your yard for years to come. Profusely illustrated with more than 1,500 crisp photographs and brimming with concise descriptions of both species and their numerous cultivars, this meticulously researched reference provides information — including size, appearance, hardiness, preferred growing conditions and susceptibility to pests and diseases — for almost every hardy conifer you're likely to encounter in the trade, whether it's a tried-and-true favorite or a connoisseur's treasure. So if you've ever been torn between, say, 'Golden Mop', 'Lemon Thread', and 'Sungold' sawara-cypresses, relax — choosing and identifying conifers just got a whole lot easier.
Customer Reviews:
Conifers For Gardens.......2007-08-08
At last a conifer book that gives us the courage and knowledge to grow conifers in our home gardens. That's the problem with conifers--people dislike them or fear them because they don't know them and understand them. It's hard to love conifers and buy them and grow them if one doesn't see their attraction and potential. If we understand them, conifers can have a meaningful relationship with our gardens. Bitner's book helps us see the beauty of conifers and it encourages people to love conifers. When you read this book you'll want to introduce some conifers to your prized plants at home and make conifers part of your garden structure and personality.
Bitner's photographs are fantastic. They show the overall habit as well as beautiful close-up shots of the needles, cones and bark. The book is a very user friendly reference as it is organized alphabetically by generic names; beginning with an interesting overview of the genus followed by details of species and cultivated varieties within the genus. His plant descriptions are thorough and informative. He also tells us how to and where to grow conifers. Bitner's crisp and descriptive writing style is refreshingly filled with tidbits and stories about conifers--conifers that provide food or shelter for wildlife, some that are not so tasty to "hoofed browsers", those that are used for their wood and other commercial products, selections for "holiday trees", and he often includes many conifers' historical ties to native Americans and early settlers.
This book should be by every gardener's bedside for fun and interesting reading and it is a "must have" for the any serious gardener's reference shelf. I don't know how we survived so long without it.
At last, an excellent guide to choosing conifers!.......2007-07-20
If your idea of a conifer is one of those green blobs overgrowing a door or a window, you need to buy this book. It is an excellent guide to the great range of conifers available to gardeners, and it shows you what they would look like in your garden. Well organized and easy to read, it tells gardeners which conifers would be best suited to particular situations. And it offers information on many dwarf alternatives that are available to the increasing number of gardeners with small yards. If you have been intimidated by conifers in the past, you will be empowered after reading this book.
Great Textbook and Home Garden Resource.......2007-07-12
Dr. Bitner's love of conifers is apparent in this wonderfully illustrated encyclopedia. His descriptions of the genera, species and cultivars allows the gardener the opportunity to make the right selections for the right spot in the garden.
This is definitely a must have for the novice and professional as a great resource.
Kudos to Dr. Bitner!!
Conifers for Gardens.......2007-06-08
As a home gardener, I found this book extremely helpful. The photographs are beautifully composed, and there is a wealth of information on how the wood from various conifers is used. The comments on how wild critters use the trees are also most interesting. An excellent reference book to keep on my bookshelf.
Best Conifer Book for American Gardens.......2007-06-07
This is the first comprehensive book on American conifers to appear in twenty years. The two volume Van Huey Smith book is almost that old (reprinted with later dates), has minimal text and the photographs are poor. The Bloom book on gardening with conifers is attractive, more recent, has beautiful pictures, but British and, therefore, limited in scope.
This one offers well-organized, thorough info on 1370 species and 1,550 good photographs for choosing garden-worthy selections. It handles ornamental attributes, culture, pests and diseases, value to wildlife (including attractiveness to "hoofed browsers") traditional uses of the wood, and best dwarf cultivars for bonsai, particularly useful to those of us who are downsizing or just want to grow conifers in containers on a small patio or deck.
Ornamental features are illustrated (i.e. most genera have good photos of typical foliage, bark, cones, etc.) along with brief descriptions of available cultivars, their habit, growth rate, distinguishing features, etc., many trees shown in garden settings. Most were photographed in arboreta and public gardens from the NE, mid-W to the NW, Canada, and throughout Germany.
In the appendix are lists of recommendations for specific conditions, a discussion of the qualities one should expect in selecting a holiday tree, lists of specialty conifer nurseries, and places to view conifers in the US, Canada, Britain, and Germany (with website listings.)
The book reads like a series of well-prepared lectures by a knowledgeable instructor. I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone considering selecting appropriate conifers for gardens, either as a professional landscape architect, garden designer or home gardener.
Book Description
This photo gallery of the best maples for garden use is a complement both to Maples of the World and to J. D. Vertrees's Japanese Maples, since more than a third of the book is devoted to Acer palmatum, including many new and unusual cultivars. The photographs, taken in locations in seven countries, demonstrate the wonderful diversity of form, color, and size that makes maples so useful in gardens of every kind.
Customer Reviews:
Color Buffet.......2006-07-14
Color choices, complete growth patterns and more information than the casual gardener can cope with make this an excellent reference.
The only book on maples you'll ever need.......2006-05-11
What a refief. After perusing at least twenty books on maple trees, I came across this gem. It is hands-down the most extensively researched book on the subject I've ever come across. There are hundreds of pictures which are extremely useful; many books will give only 4 or 5 pictures for an entire species. It contains an exhausting amount of information that proved invaluable in making my decision about which acer to plant. Once I discovered this book, my research days were over.
Tons of good info./ pics for maples and Japanese maples!!.......2000-11-01
I was looking for a good reference book on maples and Japanese maples, and was seriously considering both this one and Vertrees' book on Japanese maples. However, since this book included both types of maples, I considered it to be the better value. Also, this book has 683 color photos, and one third of the book is dedicated to Japanese maples, while Vertrees has 250 color photos and is dedicated only to Japanese maples. I still may buy Vertrees book as well, but if you are trying to choose between them, I'd go with this one. I spent many pleasurable hours just thumbing through the descriptions and gorgeous photos of maples.
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