1 comments about The Random House Book of Bulbs.

1. It there are times when you want a picture for clarity or identification, this book and series are great. It is always nice to see beautiful photos, but this book is more.

1 comments about Calochortus: Mariposas and Their Relatives.

1. What a fabulous book. Detailed information on the Calochortus. Everything you could possibly need to know. The photos are absolutely amazing. Just a wonderful book start to finish. I keep it on my living room coffee table.

4 comments about Gardening with Woodland Plants.

1. If you live in Somerset, England, this book will be an irreplaceable guide to improving your woodland . . . or creating one from scratch. Ms. Junker is from Somerset, and her perspective is heavily dependent on those growing conditions. If you live someplace that's much colder, you'll need to check on the plants that interest you to see if they survive the winters in your area. To help with that, Ms. Junker provides a list of places where you can see woodland plants in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as nurseries that have display gardens to demonstrate woodland plant concepts. The gardens and nurseries may not be right next door, but I'm sure you'll enjoy the trip.
   
   The book opens with Ms. Junker's concepts for a woodland garden, taking it from the perspective of not having a tree canopy through to already having one. She favors thinking of your woodland garden in three layers: the canopy of tall trees, intermediate plants (like rhododendrons), and flowering plants that will do well on the woodland floor (especially bulbs and ferns). She talks helpfully about how to deal with spaces of all sizes and degrees of being wooded.
   
   I found the book very helpful since our property is heavily wooded with many intermediate layer flowering plants. But we haven't done much with the ground layer, so the book's ideas were intriguing to me. In addition, she drew my attention to ornamental tall and intermediate trees and plants that could provide some interesting variety in our woodland.
   
   To me, the photographs helped the most. I could identify flowering plants by name that I've seen do well in our area. Combined with her information, I have the basis for many interesting experiments.
   
   The book's main drawback is that plant directory (the bulk of the book) is not as fully illustrated as I would have liked. I suspect that the solution is to look up the formal botanical names on the Internet to find photographs that illustrate what's being described.
   
   Ms. Junker has obviously forgotten more about woodland gardens than I'll ever know. It's great to be able to draw on her experience and ideas.
   
   Nice work, Ms. Junker!



2. After examining a library copy, I decided not to purchase this title. In addition to the drawbacks noted by another reviewer (British emphasis and sparse photographs), the book lacks zone information and a common name index.



3. This book gives an introduction to gardening with woodland plants. I can recommend it for gardeners who want to initiate on this.
   I have many years of gardening with woodland plants and found the book of little use.



4. This book has full color photo illustrations on almost every page. It is a great companion to my favorite regional shade gardening book "Got Shade" which has relatively few photos. For the price, you are not going to find a book with more photos of plants. Although the author gardens in England, I found most of the information to be transferable. I would say that probably 70-75% of the plants she describes are native to North America.
   
   I will say that I did find the lack of a common names index to be a weakness at first, but common names vary from region to region, and therefore sticking with the latin probably makes this book useful to a broader group of readers.
   
   I checked this book out at the Library before purchasing it, and I have to say that I completely disagree with the earlier reviews.

5 comments about Complete Guide to Orchids (Ortho Books).

1. This book is great for beginners and those who don't have a green thumb. Growing orchids takes some patience, but with armed with knowledge beforehand, you too can grow these enchanting flowers!



2. I have been an orchid addict for as long as I can remember. I started raising native orchids in the early 80's in my country of birth, the Philippines, using the trial-and-error method. My backyard venture was successful but it could have been so much better if a guide book, such as Ortho's Complete Guide to Orchids, had been easily available then. (There would have been less plant casualties.)
   
   This is a must-have guide book for orchid lovers, from novice to intermediate levels, who WILL benefit from its general information on orchid selection, cultural requirement, diseases, etc. I have given copies of this book to some of my family and my friends who have contracted my "addiction" to orchids.



3. This is a very nice book for someone that is new to orchids. Very helpful to properly take care of my new plant.



4. I'm not at all into the history of the man-made orchid hybrids and cultivars, for which the authors this book have a strong affinity. Expect frequent plugs for the AOS (American Orchid Society). This book has the same "pretty picture and overly general advice" formula that you can get in every other book for beginning orchid owners (or better yet, for free, on the web). I prefer Cullina's book in general, and something like Botanica's orchids as a reference for more species-specific care guidelines. In the end, I think its pretty unreasonable to make sweeping care recommendations about orchid genera, which often have 1,000+ species from a wide variety of habitats. But, I suppose this book is just as good as any other beginner guide- though others may be cheaper, and the web is cheaper (and better) still.



5. I originally borrowed this book from the library and found so many helpful bits of info that I had to buy it for myself for future reference. It just seems that I can't go wrong if I buy Ortho books. I highly recommend it for Orchid lover beginners - there's just so much very needed and useful info when it comes to orchids.

2 comments about Plants for Natural Gardens: Southwestern Native & Adaptive Trees, Shrubs, Wildflowers & Grasses.

1. Judith Phillips books are a godsend to those of us who garden in the high desert. She understands our highly varied zones and which plants thrive in each area. The illustrations and codes are very helpful. I am a public librarian and have bought many copies of her three books for our library and to use at home. Rather than hitting your head against the wall and wasting precious water trying to make something grow that does not belong in your area, Judith helps you create a great garden that will thrive and be relatively low maintenance. Her suggestions on plant combinations are particularly useful. The only criticism I have is one that happened at the printers: the pages in the back of Plants for Native Gardens which lists a chart of adaptive plants are not numbered. I highly recommend all three of Phillips' fine books.



2. Living in Las Vegas, my water concious conversion from grass
   to drought tolerant plants and landscape had to be well
   thought out. It also had to be an efficient, long lasting,
   and effective action.
   This book helped in all of those areas.

No comments about Specialty Cut Flowers.

5 comments about Pleasures of the Cottage Garden.

1. There are a lot of beautiful garden books available right now and this is one of them, but with some differences that make it well worth owning or giving. While it is filled with gorgeous color photos of flowers and gardens, it is the writing that makes it special. Rand Lee writes in an intimate, amusing style that feels like a letter from a friend - I was hooked immediately. His "Ruling Passion" exercises are a wonderful way to begin to envision your perfect garden or fine tune an already thriving one. Also of note are his sample collections of plants to create borders with various themes. My favorite chapter though is "Fragrance in the Cottage Garden". It was a delight to find a whole chapter devoted to a garden pleasure which doesn't get enough attention in either the literature or the breeding of new plants. Woven throughout the narrative is lots of information on specific plants and their cultivation. Some gardeners may be put off by the author's non-linear approach, but as with the cottage garden itself, I found that to be one of the book's charms.



2. A very enjoyable read. The pictures are lovely and the exercizes for determining your ruling passions for planning your garden are excellent. I highly recommend it for anyone who loves cottage gardens.



3. My shelves groan from the weight of gardening books, most of which I never look at twice. But this book is one of the very few which never gathers dust.

   First, there are dozens of exquisite photos of different styles of cottage gardens in a variety of locations. Individual plants are identified, as well as pictured within a larger garden context; a welcome change from the many books which provide relatively useless close-up, glamour shots or large landscapes with not a single plant identified. What is truly helpful is to see how the plant will look situated in an actual garden. I know what the flower of Sombreuil looks like: what I 'd like to see is this charming rose actually climbing the front of house. Fortunately, the photos in Pleasures of a Cottage Garden happily oblige.

   Secondly, the writing is superb: authoritative, experienced and witty. Whereas many gardening books are either written like seed catalogs or as filler for coffee table photo albums, this book is more like spending a sunny afternoon reminiscing with a wise and witty old gardener. Mr. Rand weaves together a history of cottage gardening, memories of his mother's garden and his own experiences in four different zones, with a wealth of practical information on individual plants, not to mention such important topics as color, light, and fragrance. Not forgotten are the edibles without which a cottage garden would seem only half alive.

   Thirdly, in addition to the glorious photos, expert writing, and historical research, this books offers a series of excercises which can help today's cottage gardener to discover what they truly want from their plot of earth, and how to achieve it. Almost a 12-step program for gardeners with creative block. The excercises were surprisingly effective...and delightfully revealing.

   Like a cottage garden, this book will catch you unawares with its depth and variety, as it subtly charms you with its humble beauty.

   A keeper.




4. A lot of the pictures in this book appear to be digitally enhanced. Flower edges are blurred and blooms seem to float uniformly over masses of green. Where is the imagination in that? I can photoshop a garden and copy the same flower over and over too.



5. A beautiful book with exquisite photography, touching stories (the part about the author's mother & brother made me sniffle a bit) and amusing informative descriptions of the author's garden. May Mr Lee grow anemones
   someday!

5 comments about Creative Flower Arranging: Floral Design for Home and Flower Show.

1. The entire book is devoted to most unusual vases which would be used by very few people. The actual floral designs used do not require a great deal of creativity.



2. For a garden club member who wants the most concise and helpful guide to arranging for Flower Shows, this is the best text I have seen. Although I have been entering shows for over 25 years, I found it very educational. The detailed descriptions of each type of design, along with great color photographs, were able to provide a framework to try new types of creative arrangements.



3. Cover to cover, this book shows and explains many of the aspects of working with flowers and design.



4. My promptly delivered Floral Design for Home and Flower Show is excellent!
   A book filled with wonderful ideas, helpful hints and top class photographs.
   I enjoy 'thinking outside the square' and am looking forward to trying out ideas as I get the opportunity.
   Top quality printing and layouts.



5. Received the new paperback promptly and in excellent condition. It was exactly what I expected. Good job!

5 comments about Northern California Gardening: A Month-by-Month Guide.

1. Pretty good book but beware the cover lists that there is a special section on drought tolerant and xeriscaping which is no where to be found.
   
   Advice on Fushsias and Hydrangeas is very good.



2. If you are looking for guide that includes photos, you will be disappointed. If you are a novice looking for a visual guide to give you design ideas, this is not an appropriate book.



3. I've had this book a while and was curious why it didn't have a 5 star rating. If you live in Northern California this book is very informative and very well presented. It is the only garden reference I've read cover to cover, but that is due to its layout taking you through the season month by month. Yes, it does not have photos, but if you actually take the time and read you'll find it very informative and even discover information about drought tolerant plants.



4. Since a lot of the joy of gardening is visual, I was surprised to find this book includes NO photos of the plants described.
   
   Not exactly helpful if you're trying to decide what to plant!
   
   There are some good hints, and the book is well-organized, but an occasional sketchy hand drawing is no substitute for photos. I suspect the author and publisher were trying to cut costs.
   
   Overall, very disappointing.



5. My go to book each month for over a decade now. It has consistently provided me monthly useful information and to do lists to grow fantastic gardens filled with flowers, fruits, and vegetables suitable for living in the bay area. I'm here to buy another copy for a friend. This book has worked for me from my beginning gardener stage, to my now very comfortable in growing by seed, cuttings, or transplants, hundreds of varieties of plants. Photos are readily available using online search engines, or better yet, seek out the plants in three dimensions at californias many gardening stores. I've taken lists of plants from this book with me to check out in person at nurseries which provided me first hand info no glossy photo could have. This book is fantastically useful.

3 comments about 8 Months of Color for USDA hardiness zones 4, 5, 6 & 7.

1. This in one of the most comprehensive, yet concise gardening books I've ever owned! The wonderful calendars show me the options for color and plant type by week of peak color, plant type and height. I can simply look at the month I want more color in my yard, choose a plant and go to the back and read about its characteristics and ideal growing conditions. If it looks like a fit, it's easy to take to the nursery to show them what I want. And giving all the common and scientific names allows me to hit the net and do even more quick research! A great to-the-point reference.



2. These were all gifts for my daughter and she was very pleased!!!



3. The book I purchased was very informative. Janet Macunovich always provides a wealth of information. Unfortunately, Amazon did not specify that the poster that accompanies the book was not included. I could have purchased both the book and the poster for a much lower price elsewhere if I had known the poster was not included.