Plants and Trees Books

The outstanding photographs are sufficient reason to buy this book. However, Oaks of California is a compilation of information that you will find nowhere else. Nature lovers to arborists will find whatever they need. This book will not collect dust on your bookshelf.

If you are used to books with line drawing of leaves that make it impossible to use as a reference, then you will love this book. It is a great study as well as a beauty. If you only have one book on the Oaks of California, this should be it. If you have many books on Oaks, this is still going to be one of the most used. Useful and beautiful!

this is a magnificent book. I just cannot get over the glory of the native oaks and this book captures that glory well. It covers all native species with a nice amount of detail. The photographs are beautiful. What I actually found the most intriguing was the great history the authors provide on the oaks, and the incredible ecosystem that depends on their existence. The book even provides information on parks and drives statewide where mature native oaks can be visited. I have had this book for many months now and it is one I continually pick up again and again. It inspired me to plant several native oaks at home and take inpeccable care of the one large oak (treasure) that came as an added bonus to a beautiful old home.

Living in California oak country, I have searched for just such a book to help learn about these beautiful trees. This is the best information I've found.

I bought this book, on sale no less, at the Hearst Castle gift shop. I find it to be well written and informative with many pleasing pictures of California's native oaks. For any Californian interested in the natural sciences, this book deserves a place on your bookshelf between Lanner's "Conifers of Califonia" and Dave Arora's "Mushrooms Demystified".

A fellow arborist brought this in to work and I got a copy before the Western Chapter International Society of Arborists conference lest it go on sale there. I was afraid it might go out of print. Landscape architects can use it so tree companies do not have to remove tree planting after 6 years. Arborists can use it to identify out of fashion trees with out going though 2 or 3 books. I have only gone though the Compendium portion of the book and have learned alot for example the California Pepper ( Shinus molle) is a native of...........Peru. Charles Hatch has put together a masterpiece.

I bought "Trees of the California Landscape" to identify the hundreds of trees I see at home and during our travels throughout the state. With 540 glossy pages, the book is fairly heavy and thus is not handy as a field guide. However, if you have sample leaves and/or pods from a tree and have a good recollection (or photo) of the bark, identification is easy using the book at home. So far I haven't seen any tree that isn't covered in the book. The tree and bark photos are very good. Many of the leaf photos, especially in the leaf illustration guide, show the leaves as dark green or nearly black which are not realistic colors. Overall though, the book is an excellent guide which I am very glad I bought.

I completely disagree with Mr. McGrew's assessment of the photos in this book. When I first picked up this reference in the bookstore, I was elated. The author provides excellent written description along with large color plates of the overall tree, and beautiful detailed photos of leaves, bark, fruit, and seeds. It's the best reference I've come across for definitively identifying California trees. Maybe it's not meant to be a casual "field guide" because of its size (to accommodate the numerous large photos), but for someone serious about tree ID, it's well worth hefting in a backpack, and leaving those skimpy abbreviated guides at home.

A fine book - I expected it to be - price was right and delivery was good.

Trees of the California Landscape is a treasure and should be in the library of every tree lover in California. It has excellent photos of a lot of trees: from a distance, and also close-up shots of their flowers, leaves, and bark. One can use this book to identify a great number of trees by just thumbing through the pages and simply finding the tree. There are also other ways. If you know what the flowers, leaves, or fruits of a particular tree look like you can take a different route and identify it through them. There's a wealth of information on each tree and so much more hidden in every nook and cranny of this book. I definitely recommend it; well worth the money.
Elliott F. Parivar, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor of Horticulture
Los Angeles Pierce College

This book provides an introduction to the commerical growing and sellng of Christmas trees. It covers all the main points and does so in clear prose with the occasional anecdote. Given the topic, those interested in Christmas trees as a business, full or part-time, form the book's primary readership, but anyone who loves Christmas will enjoy discovering the ins and outs of how natural trees make it our homes.

It would be great if an updated and expanded edition of this book were available, but I believe this is the only version out there. Anyway, a great resource. On a personal level, I have found that it is more difficult to successfully plant hundreds of trees. Most of mine died because I could not get up to the property often enough to water them, and I let weeds overtake them and choke them out. I also killed a bunch with the lawn mower :-(

This is a great book that lets those who want to start a Christmas Tree Farm know the basic information they need in order to start their own farm. The author also adds his suggestions and the way that the author started his own tree farm. You will still need some speific information about your land and what you want to grow there, but the author lets you know how to go about obtaining the information you need to have a successful business. He also encourages you about market conditions and basics about how to market your product.

This was a good book for the novice with no experience in the tree industry. It was a quick read and enjoyable. But not for someone in who works in the field already.

Although this book seems more designed to educate the novice at growing Christmas trees, I believe everyone, even people currently in this business, can learn something valuable from it. It is well written and enjoyable to read, plus informative in that it describes all sorts of trees used, planting methods, protection and care of seedlings and transplants, recommendations for planting locations, and a whole host of other information. I attribute this book to getting me interested in this field as a hobby. Recommend it very highly!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

Anyone who has some field guides should buy this one because it is an overview of the natural world of the Eastern U.S. So many questions are answered in a concise way. I read the book from cover to cover, a new experience as I don't normally read field guides as if they were books. The book is easy to read. An excellent gift for those interested in nature.

This is a great, concise book for taking on field work expeditions. Very informative, excellent color pictures, and wonderful descriptions of Eastern Decidious Forest Binome.

The purpose of this guide is not to assist one in identifying species of flora and fauna found in the Eastern Forest--such a tome would be monumental in size--but rather to instill in the reader an understanding of the forest's general dynamics. The book is divided into eight sections; they are:

1) How to use this book
2) Forest field marks
3) Eastern forest communities
4) Disturbance and pioneer plants
5) Adaptation
6) Paterns of spring
7) Nature in summer
8) Autumn and winter

This book is an excellent beginning point for those who want to develope a better understanding of forest ecology. I highly recommend it.

Though this guide and its companion Western forest edition have been in print for over a decade, I only stumbled on it last year. It concisely provides the missing links between other field guides to plants, fungi, insects, spiders, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals, tracks, fossils ... you get the drift. As a hiker, bird-watcher or -feeder, observer, photographer or amateur naturalist, the first step is usually simple identification of species. (With summer warblers, of course, the first step is actually seeing the bird in question.) In the same way that traditional field guides provide portable I.D. info, the ECOLOGY version helps you understand the change you see as you hike down out of a Beech-Maple forest into an Oak-Hickory stand, or the subtle differences when a Northern Riverine Forest segues into a Northern Swamp. By no means comprehensive (remember this fits in your pocket), this book, like the science of ecology itself, is composed of seemingly endless delightful digressions. Where do galls come from? How do dragonflies mate? Have you ever bothered to learn frog calls? What can the vegetation in an old field tell you about history? This volume (and by my inference the Western companion) are an excellent and fascinating addition to any field guide collection.

This is a high quality book at a very decent price, it is interesting and covers almost all facets of the forests, and in a way, goes a little bit beyond that with sections on butterflys, insects and other plants besides trees.Like it is mentioned in other reviews, this is not a guide per say to plants, animals,etc.but it is a fairly decent read.

I have tried some of the things in this book. It is easy to read, and easy to try.

I saw the author on a PTV show and decided I had to have one of his books. The hard part was deciding on which one; he has so many. I love all the homemade solutions (liquid preparations) you can make to help with your yard and plants. This book cover a variety of topic for the yard from grass and shrubs, to flowers to trees. Every home should have a Jerry Baker book!!!

I really like the 'down-to-earth' suggestions/comments. Enjoyable reading even quite humorous!

Lots of Recipes/Remedies using fairly common household items which are easily accesible & inexpensive. Instead of reading several products in the aisles, make your own right at home!! Things you use regularly may benefit your plants (EX: fling that banana peel in your rose bed - they'll thrive!)

Discusses many things from growing/caring for/etc Trees/Shrubs/Flowers to warding off unwanted 'pests' etc.

Good book to have. I'll be pulling it off the shelf often!

If you've already amassed a shelf full of garden books or if you are about to acquire your first;this would be an excellent choice.
Jerry Baker ,America's Master Gardener has written over 50 books on gardening and is about as knowledgeable as anyone ,to help you in being successful in your garden. In this 375 page book he addresses 2168 subjects on just about every problem you could ever expect to encounter. And why not? He's been at it over 40 years and has probably talked to hundreds of thousands of garderners and heard about every problen,and yes,soltion that has been tried.
\ The book is presented in an excellent manner,profusely illustrated,very well organized ,and with a very helpful Index.
If there is anything that stands out immediately when you look at this book ;it is that it is filled with recipes,mixes,tonics,or as I'd like to call them "concoctions" to help your plants,deal with pests or anything where people usually head to the local garden center ,to buy another "miracle product",that gets added to that endless pile,you have already collected.
And how does he do it.? He simply uses products that are already around every house,as well as many that get thrown in the garbage.
I was tempted to make a list of all the things he uses ,it must be over a hundred,but I'll leave that for someone else.
Just imagine ,the next time you encounter a problem in your garden,and find you can solve it by mixing up a solution of:

garlic-and-lemon-juice
skim milk
baby shampoo
hot sauce
and a gallon of water
And save a trip and the cost of heading for the garden center.

Or how about this ;

FLOWER POWER TONIC
1 cup of beer
2 tbsp. of fish fertilizer
2 tbsp.of liquid dish soap
2 tbsp.of ammonia
2 tbsp.of whiskey
1 tbsp.of corn syrup
1 tpsp.of instant tea granules
2 gallons of warm water.
There is only one thing I question about this author and his book ,and that ,is how much beer he uses in these recipes. I would not doubt it if his wife keeps asking "What are you doing with all that beer you've been buying?" "Oh,honey,I'm putting it on the plants,that's why I am getting such super results;everyone has a secret." Don't be surprised if you drop by to visit Jerry,and you see a beautiful bouquet on the table,and Jerry enjoying "a cool one" behind his tool shed!!!

Boy, do I LOVE this book! I'm just a casual gardener, but boy, if you have nasty soil, need help getting your lawn started, garden started, problem with trees and plants, grab this book. I can tell you for a fact that that tonic Jerry has in this book for trees is just tremendous! Who would think that putting whiskey, beer, peroxide and jello on your trees would just make them grow huge in no time at all. My trees just love this stuff and I'm just thrilled with the results of all the recipes I've tried in this book. Plus, if you have problems with any plants you currently have, it's probably addressed in this book. Baker is the country's #1 gardener and this book shows why. I'm very thankful that I purchased it and got it for a great price on amazon.com. If you have roses and have trouble, this book is for you. He even tells you how to get rid of every bug imaginable. Also, if you're having trouble with your lawn, the remedy is in this book. Plus, Baker tells you how to select the proper plants for your area, and even outlines designs for you to have a nicely planted yard. He recommends what trees to plant as well and how they should be planted to take root quickly. He gives recipes for many tonics to get them off to a great start. Again, I can't emphasize how much this book has done for my garden. Now I'm attacking my clay soil and following Baker's advice. My yard is the best in the neighborhood!

This is the 'bible' of native plant info when it comes to the woody species. His native wildflower guide is equally impressive for that category of plants. This book is stuffed cover to cover with detailed info about each plant. If you want to know how to plant it, where to put it (light and soil needs), what kinds of wildlife you can expect it to feed or draw in, etc. this is the book for you.

Even though a hard cover reference book isn't usual bedtime reading for me-I couldn't put this down. Each plant is described so personally yet so expertly. Gardening with woody plants is a commitment, and this book provided the insight and knowledge I needed to make choices confidently. The language of the book is wonderful-it is as if the author is chatting with his latest native plant buddy-you. The lists and organization of information is very helpful.

This book is a valuable guide to native woody plants. The habits, landscape value, propagation and culture of most( a few are missing) of the important plants are described in a very readable manner. Cullina clearly draws from a deep well, I had the impression that he had much more that he could have included, but what is here is great.

There are a couple of criticisms. The photos are relativly sparse compared to the recent books by Dirr or Darke and are not at all well-reproduced. One picture per genus just ain't enough when there is such wonderful variation within genera. Also, the pronunciation guide for Latin plant names is occasionally bizarre...since when does "Aesculus" have four syllables? (But maybe he is right I couldn't find any native Latin speakers to ask) Finally, the book has a clear East coast bias. Although there are many Western US plants that are mentioned, I suspect that many are missing.

Buy this book for the prose.

William Cullina has struck a great balance in this book. Every time I pick it up I'm amazed at how it is both an informative reference and a very enjoyable read.

Bill (can I call him that?) understands there are just as many amateur gardeners as there horticulturalist. In this book, he struck a balance with both audiences. For instance, I'm not a big fan of Latin plant names: I prefer to know the background of a plant, what it needs to thrive, its purpose, etc... When I look up a plant in this book, I get so much more. This makes the informative process extremely enjoyable as well as educational. Bill also gives phonetic spelling of the plants. It helps when you go to the nursery you'll feel less intimated by those who seem to speak Latin.

For instance, I just bought 5 Artemisia plants to go with purple coneflower, Salvia, Russian Sage, etc... Looking Artemisia up in Native Trees Shrubs and Vines, I found out it is actually sagebrush (tumbleweed) from the wild west as well as the extreme hardiness of the plant, its background, how to cultivate it, use it, etc... The style of the writing made the process extraordinarily enjoyable.

PS: I've been meaning to write a review of this book for 2 years now. When I read about Artemisia a few minutes ago, it compelled me to leave the garden to write this review. I can't say enough about this book other then it's one of my top 3 favorites on gardening. I actually took 10 minutes out of a beautiful Sunday morning to write this review. Now, it's back to the garden & Bill's book for me :-)

William Cullina, of the New England Wild Flower society, is a highly regarded expert in Native plants. This book is the woody counterpart to his Wildflower book. Included are tips on using, growing and propagating these native wonders in North America. The photography and information provided are a source like none other. This is a must have for anyone interested in restoring the ecology of the landscape through the use of natives - beginners and experts alike - an excellent reference.

I was surprised to see everyone liked this book. I purchased this book and it was terrible so I went to my local library and rented several books on pruning. One of the books, "Pruning Made Easy" by Lewis Hills is far superior to all the others for a basic pruning book. The Ortho book talked about a subject or would mention a term that they already expected you to know. The book by Hill is basic but indepth.

I don't know if this book is for those who are experienced gardeners, but it was a great comprehensive introduction for this novice.

This book explains pruning in easy to understand illustrations and pictures. It shows how to prune nearly anything and does it in a way that is easy to understand and easy to remember. Anyone can correctly prune their shrubs, vines, and trees by following this book. A good index makes it easy to find a specific plant that needs pruning.

I bought this book for myself and my neighbor say it and loved it so much I purchased one for him, also. If you know nothing about pruning this book will get you started.

I've been looking for a good pruning book for three years and have been disappointed with all of them. This is the first book that actually explains ALL aspects of the why and how to prune with just the right amount of technical detail. The encyclopedia section lists each tree/shrub with a picture and does something that no other book I've found does, it tells you when to prune EACH tree instead of just providing some broad generic statements like so many other books. If you need to prune anything in your yard, get this book.

The day I received this book, I immediately began to use it. I had wanted to make a hedge of some beautiful crape mytrle by our back door. The book gave detailed instructions and pictures. The mytrle has already started to leaf into a bush after only a few weeks. I know they will be perfect and I would not have known exactly how it should be done without the book. I had a general idea, but the book's instructions were much better. I am anxiously awaiting fall for some other pruning projects. Pruning season had ended for a number of bushes and trees before I could get pruning accomplished.

Best pruning book I've come across. I'm not a "gardener" so it helps that it really explains what you need to do.

Lee Reich is one of the more underrated garden writers today. His books are not pretty or decorative, but the amount that one can learn from them is much much more than than what you get from Martha Stewart or P. Allen Smith any day. Here's to more great work from him.

I first encountered this book at the local library, and liked it so much I wanted to own it myself. I couldn't part with it. The writing style, illustrations, organization, and advice are all clear, straightforward, and sensible. In addition, the author's enthusiasm for the subject makes this more than a reference guide, and during long winters it can serve as an inspiration for the seasons ahead.

I am still currently reading the book. It's packed full of good things. The best thing about it is, if you have a specific type of plant you can go directly to that section and it gives you a clear and detailed way of pruning the plant. I think its a must have for any gardener.

This is a great reference for those gardening in shade. It is organized in a logical format and can be easily used. The photos are nice and the information helpful as plants are considered for a shade garden. While it may not be adequate for those gardening in the deep south, it is very well suited to zones 5,6, and 7.

This wonderful little book (thick, but only 4.27" wide) is an absolute necessity for anyone who wishes to do some gardening in a shady area. In fact, this book is really three books rolled into one. The first section looks at shade and shade gardening, it is straightforward and highly informative. The second section is entitled The Color Plates, and gives a long list of shade-loving plants, including a very nice color picture, and a highly informative description. The third section goes hand-in-hand with the second, and gives more in-depth information.

This book is really great, a must have for those of us who wish to do some gardening in a shady area. I highly recommend this book to all gardeners!

Having recently purchased a condo in Houston with a north-facing porch, I eagerly awaited delivery of this book. However, I was quickly disappointed. This book should be titled "Shade Gardening in the North," since virtually all of the plants listed are for Zones 5 and lower...not much help for my Zone 9 garden. It did contain a couple of pages of information for shade gardening in the South (which they consider to be North Carolina!), but I was really looking for specific information on the types of shade plants I could plant here. This would have been a great book if I lived in Ohio, but not so good for us Texans.

The Taylor's Guides are very reliable sources for gardening information and great pictures, and the Shade Gardening Guide is one of the best. Shade gardening is difficult for many reasons. There are not that many very showy flowers for seasons other than Spring, and there are many types of shade. The descriptions are very specific and helpful: light shade, dappled shade, "the more shade, the less moisture is needed," and so on. The soil and shade descriptions for each plant are excellent and detailed.

Although the plants are listed alphabetically for the cultural requirements, the pictures are listed by groups: trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, summer bulbs, ground covers, vines, grasses, and ferns. I would recommend that people using the book for plant selection read the "Encyclopedia of Plants" part as well as the brief but good descriptions with the color pictures.

Keep in mind too that the flowering times are primarily for New England (zone 5). Furthur South you may get earlier and more flowers. For example, Ceratostigma is listed as an Autumn bloomer, while in PA, it blooms from July through October. So you get more than the book suggests. Not bad. Anyone with shade should experiment with the plants in this book. As a gardening professional, I see so many great and underused plants listed and described in this book.

Provides lots of interesting gardening information if you are planting only trees and shrubs. Book does not detail anything for vegetable gardeners. Title should be changed to include the word "Forestry" rather than the broad term 'gardening".