2 comments about Best Garden Plants for Virginia (Best Garden Plants For...).

1. This attractive handbook is a basic guide for beginning gardeners for selecting plants that will do well in the state. Plants are arranged alphabetically in sections of Annuals, Perennials, Trees & Shrubs, Roses, Vines & Groundcovers, Bulbs, Corms & Tubers, Herbs and Ferns & Ornamental Grasses. Each plant profile includes a nice color photo and minimal information on growing conditions, tips and cultivar recommentations. An okay guide for the beginning gardener - if you are looking for in-depth information, you may want to look elsewhere.



2. While this book is not a comprehensive volume, it does cover the most common landscape plants in the Virginia landscape. There is a strong emphasis on older varieties of plants and those that are BEST suited to the climate conditions of Virginia.
   
   For a new resident of Virginia who likes to do amatuer landscaping, this book is indispensible.

5 comments about Gardening With Native Plants of the South.

1. I wasn't going to plant a native plant garden until I read this book. It's extremely well-organized and the authors infuse you with their excitement about the plants. The "personal comments" section is the best. Even though the plant might not be high on your list, the comments section may give some information that may make you desire it. They also have landscape designs that you can implement yourself. If you're interested in creating a butterfly or bird garden, this book lists what types of animals are attracted to the plant. They have the book parsed out into deciduous trees, deciduous shrubs, grasses, bog plants, etc. Each plant has several sections telling the shade, moisture, height, wildlife, fall colors, flower, fruit, and anything else you could possibly want to know about the plant. It's better than any of the other garden books that I have read, including ones from national gardens, etc.



2. This is THE book to have on native plants of the Southern U.S. Easy to read and informative, it helps both the novice and experienced gardener alike.
   
   --Theresa Schrum
   2005 President, Georgia Native Plant Society
   
   Note: This is a personal endorsement based upon my professional experience and not an endorsement from the Georgia Native Plant Society (although many members have the book (-:)



3. For any gardener who has struggled against nature, only to be disappointed again and again, Sally Wasowski offers guided instruction on how to work WITH nature. The results are not only beautiful and rewarding, but we gardeners are invited to gain a sense of place by learning of the rich botanical bounty of our own locale. Ms. Wasowski provides glossy color photos to acquaint us with plants which may be new to us. She describes well the growing habits and needs of the plants, as well as good companion plants and the wildlife likely to be drawn.
   This book is a treasure for those who have discovered or would like to dabble in the joy of native plant gardening.



4. I got this book because all the reviews were so stellar. But I was a little disappointed... I have better books than this on native/ southeastern plants (titles and so forth will follow). The author is well known and I have another book by her (The Landscaping Revolution) which is really good and thought provoking.
   
   Having said that, there are important parts of this book, most notably the chapter on Native Groundcovers. No other volume covers groundcovers at all, and it shows the author's dedication and hard work. No book is perfect and can please everyone.
   
   The reason I give it 3 stars is mainly due to organization. What if I need a plant that is drought resistant and fall flowering? Much frustration ensues trying to find such a plant. Or if I need a tree that is good to plant next to the street? No info.
   
   Furthermore, the book is rather thin. The author states in the intro that she had problems trying to pare down the list of plants to include and could not produce a 300 page catalog, but I honestly and respectfully question that decision. According to the author, such a volume would never sell. Perhaps, at the initial printing, in 1993, that may have been true. But no longer. I don't know about you, but I love an all encompassing volume on native plants. Luckily, it's already available.
   
   And, as a third point of critique, only the USDA Hardiness Zones (how cold a plant can take) are included as planting guidelines. Just as important as the AHS Heat Zones (how hot a plant can take). Heat, just as cold, is important in successful planting.
   
   Now, I personally think that the following titles are fabulous for beginning and intermediate gardeners alike: The American Horticultural Society's Southeast: SmartGarden Regional Guide and Felder Rushing's Tough Plants for Southern Gardens. Both are great books.
   
   The first is a real catalog. It has a listing of 3,000 plants with about as many color photographs. There's also general advice on all the basics: how to plant, diseases, soil conditions, etc. This book is superbly organized. It should be the backbone of your library.
   
   The second is a smaller volume on the really tough, nearly un-killable plants. It should be a secondary volume for those really difficult spots or as an advice volume when deciding between a couple different plants for a spot.
   
   The bottom line is we all want the same thing: nice gardens that we don't have to worry about. That means native plants. So, go out and look at some books. This book, like the other two I mentioned, is good, but not that good. The AHS book is the ultimate guide. Good luck and happy gardening!



5. This book is great. It has nice colored pictures and plant profile descriptions of every plant in the book. It even has several sample landscape designs so you can see which plants grow best with others.

3 comments about Country Living Gardener A Blessing of Toads: A Gardener's Guide to Living with Nature (Country Living Gardener).

1. I have collected an entire gardening library so besotted am I with this gender of reading and gardening. This book is a treasure! Clearly the best reflection on nature in your garden I have ever had the pleasure to read. Amusing and full of directions and advise this book should never be put away but left out to consult and muse over. Get it and give it! You cannot miss!! Susan



2. Ms Lovejoy's collection of gardening essays presents a book of relaxing and delightful reading. It is sprinkled with a collection of gardening ideas that will be appealing to both the beginner and experienced gardener, especially if you are interested in living with nature. I have already borrowed some of her ideas for my backyard wildlife habitat.



3. Lovejoy is a vessel of knowledge that gardeners of all ages will delight in with this book. She makes gardening fun and kids (and adults!) will like the projects and ideas for nuturing a special place of thier own.

3 comments about Designing Outdoor Environments for Children: Landscaping School Yards, Gardens and Playgrounds.

1. I have found 'Designing Outdoor Environments for Children' to be an excellent addition to my library. I will include this publication as a part of the 'Introduction to Horticultural Therapy' class I am teaching. It will be very useful in helping students understand the essential role outdoor environments can play in teaching children about nature. The book is also an excellent resource in my own work designing residences and school playgrounds. Children, more than ever, need to reconnect with nature. The need to strengthen our interaction with nature cannot be overstressed today!



2. "Designing Outdoor Environments for Children" is a thorough investigation of how spaces for children aid in the development of necessary motor skills, intellectual and imaginative stimulation, and an early exposure to nature that will foster lifelong appreciation. No topic is untouched - history, design process, sustainability, case studies, and fundraising are all included. Not only is the text written in a clear, concise manner with many insightful images, but the text also provides the seeds with which a revolution in children's play will occur, hopefully soon. Designers, parents, principals, and teachers should all read, and will undoubtedly benefit from the unique concepts presented here. The environments for our children can become more inspirational, more nurturing, and should be made over; the authors tell you why and show you how.



3. 2007 PA/DE Chapter ASLA President's Award Winner
   Jury Comments:
   The book is wonderfully illustrated and chock full of very useful information. This will be a great tool in the training and knowledge of a landscape architect in a very practical manner--good for every day use.

4 comments about Eat Here: Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket.

1. This book is very well done. He not only describes the problems in the American food system, but does a fantastic job of describing international problems, something that is lacking in many books published in the US. The writing is easy to understand even though it broaches some complicated issues. If there were any weaknesses, I think it's that he doesn't cover the nutritional losses of old food enough.



2. This is required reading for everyone, not just farmers. It's packed with informative fact and real-life stories. A resource to aid those interested in knowing where their food originates (local is best) as well as how their food is cultivated. This book offers many suggestions to help readers find creative ways to support regional agriculture and a healthier lifestyle.



3. This book is a must read - it should be assigned reading in classrooms. More people care where their food comes from but this goes beyond that and goes to the farmer and the other reasons why we should all care. A little education goes a long way and if we take heed we can help each other as this goes to the heart of what is community. The Walmarts and other big centers for anonymous food are the antithesis of community and their paltry attempts at throwing money at communities does not change that. The first goal is to get people to care what effects their actions and their shopping in particular have on others, both here and abroad and this addresses one part of that.



4. Well, this book was certainly interesting...but not so engaging for me as coming home to eat. There is a whole lot in this book that I was not aware of before reading it and while I understood that eating locally was preferable...until I read this, I only had a hit of the ideas behind they why of it all. It's a fairly quick read and I do think Halweil makes a compelling case for necessity of a return to a more local food economies. I think this is probably a book that everyone should read. I give it a solid A.

2 comments about Taylor's Guide to Roses: How to Select abd Grow 380 Roses, Including the New Hardy Ever-Blooming Varieties - Flexible Binding (Taylor's Gardening Guides).

1. This book has lovely photographs, good descriptions of the plant, and suggestions on how to use particular rose varieties in your landscape. It is written with enthusiasm and is a pleasure to read.



2. Taylor's Guides are popular tools for plant selection and this revised edition is no exception. The size of the new edition is a little larger than the old one but it is still a comfortable size for reading in bed or taking with you to the nursery. 380 roses are covered here, from all rose classes. 200+ pages are glossy and contain a color photograph of each rose. The gallery is followed by an "encyclopedia of roses" which gives basic information about growing the rose and how best to use it in the garden. A brief introduction covers the basics of buying roses, growing and caring for them. A chart is also included which explains pest and diseases and offers ecologically safe controls.

   This is a good guide but if you are seeking a book that is more comprehensive and includes a larger selection of roses, you might want to check out "Botanica's Roses" by William Grant. This book includes over 2000 roses and is priced similarly. Also, the just released "American Rose Society Encyclopedia of Roses" is also outstanding but much higher in price.

5 comments about The Home Depot Outdoor Projects 1-2-3 (Home Depot ... 1-2-3).

1. A user-friendly search manual of OutDoor/Indoor do-it-yourself projects. This book is a quick read with adaquate illustrations depicting vital home upkeep/improvement projects in simple lay terms. Sport reading for the seasoned professional, critical for would-be's.



2. this book is great my husband wanted it and now he loves it he uses it all the time and it give us both ideas on things we can do and then shows us how.



3. Generally when I used think about home improvements (indoor or out) I thought about calling somebody (experienced or not) to help me with it. It was usually at this point that the neighbors would bring their kids inside. . . Just to be safe. . . To be honest, until just after I bought this book (a year ago) I didn't think I had the inate skills needed to do something as alien to modern men as replacing a fawcet washer, much less replacing the whole fawcet and installing a greenhouse!! This book, aside from not being very good at helping you lift heavy things, is all the help you will need to complete hundreds of different improvement projects in and around your house.

   The skill gauge is very acurate in it's time estimates and tells you what level of skills you should have before starting a project - This is helpful if only so you can put your local fire department on call. With all the information on tools, their usage, and the type, amount and quality of materials you will need this book could make Homer Simpson look like Martha Stewart. . . Well, maybe more like Tim Allen, but you get the point.

   I highly recommend this book and the Home Depot "HOME IMPROVEMENTS 1-2-3" book as well!! Truly money well spent!




4. This book truly gives you the most "bang for your buck". If you are interested in learning how to do a wide variety of things and are somewhat mechanically inclined.....THIS is the book for you! I have my own contracting business and refer to this book many times for that "extra" insight I need on a project. The diagrams and pictures are very helpful and I truly would recommend this book to anyone!



5. My husband is a carpenter and very good with working on things in the home. He needed a little guidance for outdoor projects that he never had done before. This book was even great for me who has no knowledge or training in building or landscaping. The two of us redid our entire back yard and it looks wonderful....we added a deck, patio, retaining wall, and lots of plants. Now we are looking forward to working on the front yard next Spring. This book will definitely get more use.

4 comments about The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition.

1. A superb study that is as engrossing as it is elegantly written and lavishly illustrated, and a sensitive inquiry into the aesthetics, the history and the philosophy that underpin an ancient and majestic civilization's view of mankinds's place within the cosmos. Both unique and profound. An essential work.



2. How great Chinese garden are!From north to south ,east to west,royal to normal,fancy to simple,you could see all of the best gardens in China.Especially two cities that must visit:Beijing,my hometown,and Suzhou,a wonderful small town built beside the river.The spirits of Chinese gardens were focused on how to combine nature and humanity together.The gardens in Suzhou absolutely rendered an ideal level without artificial fixing,you might called it "Eastern Venice".On the oher hand,Beijing seems much more luxurious since it used to be the capital of China for 5 dynasties.The best known garden named Summer Palace ,which settled in Western part of Beijing,belong to the royal family. A fire desaster ruined most valuable garden named Yuan Ming Yuan,if it still being there,Yuan Ming YUan might be the most gorgeous garden in the world.However we pitifully left a waste garden,morely a Country's shame.You luckily better read this book before you visit China.<>is a helpful tourguide take you a preview.



3. While the attitudes and examples of Japanese gardens abound in books and in cities around the world, very little has been written or photographs of the unique concepts found in the Chinese gardens. Maggie Keswick repairs that paucity of information with this very beautifully designed, photographed and written monograph on the spirit of the subtle beauties that abound in the Chinese garden.
   
   Keswick offers an in depth analysis of the history of gardens in China and even if the reader is not an avid horticulturist, just the amount of information about China alone is reason to read this book carefully. But in addition to the history and the architectural elements of these gardens here considered, there are many graceful photographs and accompanying illustrations that keep pace with the narrative while providing an encouragement to return to the book purely for the art of it.
   
   Keswick has found the middle ground in creating a volume about the elements of the Chinese garden and a volume that stands strongly as simply an art book. Highly recommended for repeated readings. Grady Harp, April 05



4. I've been a garden designer in Portland Oregon for twenty years and have spent over a year in China visiting gardens . This book is a very good place to begin if you want to understand , on a basic level, Chinese gardens . It is however, not the place to stop if you really seek to understand them . To do that you have to try to understand the culture and times which produced them. Fruitful Sites by Craig Clunas is the best work which I have found so far as it analyzes the gardens at Suzhou over the course of several dynasties. Chinese Classical Gardens of Suzhou (Hardcover)
   by Tun-Chen Liu, Joseph C. Wang is also a very good book . It is a critique of most of the principal gardens in Suzhou and it punctures the illusion that every Chinese garden is equally great and every feature wonderful. And if you are actually going to travel to China to see gardens you really should read both of Peter Valder's books . They will help you understand Chinese plants and to find gardens in many Chinese cities. I don't always agree with Valder's assessments . He is quite restrained at times . And if you are planning to travel to Suzhou consider visiting Tongli as well. I also consider the gardens of The Slender West Lake in Yangzhou and other gardens there to be equal to many of the gardens in Suzhou. And if you are going to go to China I recommend you start reading The Orientalist online and purchase Beijing by Peter Neville Hadley so that you will not be shocked when you travel China . It is by no means an easy process if you want to travel beyond some air-con rip-off tour.

2 comments about The Farmers' Market Book: Growing Food, Cultivating Community (Quarry Books).

1. By the end of the first chapter, this book had moved me enough to take a break from the reading and write a thankyou note to the authors. Bloomington, IN hosts one of the country's great farmer's markets and the academics turned market vendors who wrote the book weave a wonderful story of not only their experiences, but a well researched history of farm markets in general and the larger vision of local food systems.
   
   Highly recommended, a beautifully created and very readable book.



2. I recommend this work highly. I have been researching farmers' markets for several years and ordered this book thinking it would give me some ideas of how Bloomington's market was organized. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the book was much wider in scope. The history of farmers markets around the world was especially interesting and well written. (The author, by the way, is an English professor). Also included are stories of farmers and growers, relationships at farmers markets, trials of growing crops and more. The photographs are excellent and the book is a joy to read. Useful for anyone interested in farmers markets or growing good food.

5 comments about Joey Green's Gardening Magic: More Than 1,120 Ingenious.

1. I got this book as a Christmas present, and wow, it's a gardener's dream. Instead of running out to the gardening shop to get expensive pesticides or plant foods and what have you, this book tells you what common household products you've already got around the house can be used to solve your gardening problems...saving time, money, and definitely saving you lots of aggravation. Plus, the tips are all environmental so you're not using hazardous pesticides, just friendly products like Maxwell House coffee and Pam cooking spray and Coca-Cola and whatever else you have around the house. This book is truly a must for any home gardener. I don't know how I ever got along without it.



2. Feed your plants Aunt Jemima Syrup? Enhance a compost heap with Coca-Cola? Use Gatorade to protect small plants from hungry rabbits? Joey Green's Gardening Magic is filled from cover to cover with not just gardening solutions, but ideas for home enhancement using brand-name products. From hand cleaners to lawn care and some unusual facts, Gardening Magic provides a gardening guide which will entertain even as it educates.



3. Not a bad book, but it's a collection of one liners. "Use coca-cola to improve x." "Moth balls around the base of plants help y" and so on. Literally hundreds of one liners that it's a bit much for me, but still interesting to see how to use all of your household items in your garden.



4. Very interesting book. It is a bit repetitive, but all in all, very good.



5. This is a very useful resource. My husband is in it more than I am.