Plants and Trees Books

I 'm a frenzy Cycad lover. For this reason, I would like to collect everything related Cycad, including plants of different species, books, stamps, photos.This is second important book on Cycad(the first one is CYCADS WORLD ED 2E).I consider the author spend much efforts and time on finishing this book, he had travel (I guess) all round the wolrd to collect the imformation on Cycad. He had a lot of experience. In this book, he shared his experiences with the readers. In this regard, I would like have this book, since you will know all the author had experienced. it 's a treseaue, a fantasitic book.

For any novice collector, this book offers a wonderful general knowledgebase of the Cycad family. Whilst not filled with botanical overload as some more in-depth books, it will assist you to identify differences between key plants within a genus.

No reference collection is complete without it.

What can one say, simply the best book available on these fascinating ancient plants.Highly recommended.

This book on cycads is very informative without being to technical. It is an outstanding source of information for all who have an interest in cycads. I feel I received value that exceeded the price paid.

Loran Whitelock has put a lifetime of cycad knowledge and experience in this book. Its excellent photographs give both views of mature plants and close ups of leaf detail that help readers distinguish among similar species. In addition to detailed physical descriptions of all of the recognized cycads and subspecies, Whitelock gives invaluable information on habitat, geographical distribution, conservation status and horticultural characteristics. This book will be the standard reference for cycad gardeners and admirers for many years.

I bought the books to understand the practical aspects of building a forest garden on my 2 acre land. I started reading the vol 2 because that seemed to contain the practical advice. However, soon after, I became convinced that vol 1 can not be ignored. Now I have read vol 1 and am truly in awe of the authors' clarity of thinking and organizing the vast amounts of material and data. The theory is clear and up-to-date with vast recent scientific knowledge- a rare combination indeed.
My only advice to a beginning reader would be to read the last part (conclusion) of vol 1 before and in between the various chapters in order to maintain motivation and interest in the overly theoretical- but necessarily so- parts of vol 1. That chapter really ties the theory together with your reasons of going into such details as are presented.I found in that chapter my "aha" moment.
Thanks to the authors for these wonderful and helpful books. Are worth their weight in gold- or rich moist forest humus!

These books are very thorough. They take you through all the processes you need to get your garden started, and they provide many perennial garden design methods. There are plenty of charts and graphs in each book which help tremendously with making complete sense of the material.

The second volume is about double the size of Volume One. My only real issue with this set is that Volume One is in color and Volume Two is black and white. Is this a big deal? Not really. Though, if I had the option of paying ten dollars to swap out Volume Two in black and white for a color version, I would.

As a graduate of a Permaculture Design Course, organic farm worker and someone generally interested in virtually all aspect of sustainable ag, I found this book incredible. Now, I've only read the first one (about to start on volume number 2), but the quality of information in the first volume in outstanding. Volume 1 is concerned with the theory behind forest gardening, but with a keen eye towards using that information in the second volume (which includes detailed information on actually creating a forest garden). David Jacke does a great job of covering everything from invasive plants to forest succession to what a guild is and how to build one to underground microbes and why we should care about them. Full of informative figures, graphs and sidebars, this book does an excellent job of filling a niche that has been otherwise missed by many permaculture and sustainable ag books - what to do in the more temperate, rainy parts of the world. I'd recommend this book over Patrick Whitfield's great book if you live in the U.S. because it suggests a variety of plants native to the U.S. and has a larger number of useful species for people who live in the U.S. and are dealing with colder temperatures than those seen in Britain. Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone with the slightest interest in creating an edible landscape on a piece of property.

This book is a must for anyone who wants a future on this planet, especially in temperate climates

It's really amazing how much information the authors have compiled on the subject matter they cover. Which, by the way, has to to with creating forest gardens, but with so much more as well, and in incredible depth.
These two books can provide one with material to study for a long time and be a reference source forever.

Money well spent. We are ready for wildflower season! A lot of color pictures with good information. If you live in or near the Mojave Desert this is a valuable book.

I live on the Mojave Desert, Antelope Valley to be precise, and this book portrays the beauty we are now experiencing this spring. We have a beautiful Poppy Preserve on the westside of our valley. Jane Pinheiro was a woman who not only painted pictures of many of our wildflowers , but she was one of the people instrumental in seeing that the Poppy Preserve came into being. A number of her paintings are on display at the Preserve. I have one of her paintings, and with this lovely wildflower book, I was able to ascertain which of the wildflowers is depicted in my painting. If anyone is interested in not only viewing the array of colors during our spring wildflower viewing, but is interested in learning some of the names of said wildflowers, and a bit of background for each of them, this is the book to buy.

I love these Falcon guides mainly because of the lavish color illustrations. Every flower in the book has its own color picture, along with helpful descriptions. The front matter in this book includes all sorts of background material about the Mojave, along with the usual educational stuff about plant types, leaf distribution, etc. And the book is made to last -- if you take any care of it at all, it will last you forever.

Pam MacKay's 'Mojave Desert Wildflowers' is a wonderfully informative & beautifully photographed guide to the wildflowers of the Mojave. This sturdy plastic-coated field guide contains over 300 gorgeous photos, finely detailed plant descriptions, and is virtually an introductory textbook on Mojave Desert ecology. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates the Mojave Desert. The author lives & teaches in the Mojave and her dedication, attention to detail, and love of the desert are revealed on every page.

Jim Otterstrom

This is probably the easiest to use desert plant book I have (and I have eight that focus on desert plants in all). What it lacks in completeness, it more than makes up for in terms of ease of use. There is a picture for each plant and the plants are grouped according to flower color. So as long as the plant is in bloom, it's not too hard to find out what it is. This book does a great job of covering the plants you are most likely to come across which makes it a great book to thumb through in the field. If you are dealing with similar species within the same genus or rare plants, you'll probably want to get the Jepson guide.

I have found this the best book for much more than the Tahoe Basin. It is better than any Yosemite guide for even south into the Ansel Adams Wilderness. It is actually fun to sit down and read, it is small enough to take back packing, it has trees, shrubs and flowering plants, and the photographs are clear. My only suggestion is for a more comprehensive index.

If you are looking for a specific nature book (on the flora (plants) of the Lake Tahoe (California) area, this is an excellent choice.

WHile there are a number of flower books for the Sierra available, I found this one particularly useful because the plants are arranged by family so you can learn how to identify plants that are not in the range covered by the book. THe introductory section was also really informative and interesting.

Without a doubt, this is the best plant or flower book I have ever read. The author clearly knows Tahoe Basin vegetation and natural history like nobody else. The key is masterful in its simplicity, the pictures spectacular and the text brilliantly concise (and sometimes witty!). You can leave your tent, cell phone and coffee mug behind, but you must not forget Mr. Graf's book when going to Tahoe.

Weekends in Tahoe are tons better with this book in tow. It is way cool to know the names of the gorgy plants and flowers with whom you are sharing your away-from-work time. I especially like being able to answer my two-year-old's question, "What's dat one momma," as he begins to take an interest in the names of the plant life surrounding him. A great gift for parents of children who go to Tahoe from time to time...or for anyone still young at heart/inquisitive enough to want to know more about Tahoe vegetation.

Great reference book! Gives you all the information you need to propagate--nurserymen to laymen.

Uncertain which manual would be best, the reviews on this book were so good that I selected it. I'd have to say it's the best all-around propagation manual I've seen for woody plants. The only problem: now I have not only detailed info on desired plant material, but also want to try SO many others!

I propagated woody plants as a sideline business for a number of years and considered this book THE source. For many species, specific concentrations for rooting hormones are specified. This is invaluable information since for many plants there is an optimal concentration and using a higher or lower concentration of reduces rooting success rates as well as root development.

Dirr has done all the research and you reap all the rewards. His conclusions are backed up by many scientific studies by various individuals and groups. The first part gives a summary of the diferent propagation methods and the second part has very detailed data on specific species. I save hundreds of dollars each year by propagating by own southern magnolias, red tip photinas, and navel oranges. This is, by far, the best book on propagation out there!!

This is by far the best book out there on this subject. I have bought all the books on this subject and none can compare to this one. If you only want to buy one book on this subject this is the one.

After my friend Scott Patton had finished "Learning With the Lizard" he showed me some of his artwork for his next book. To be honest I loved the artwork but I had to ask him "Just how exactly are you and Sam going to write a devotional book about plants?" The devotional book I was referring to eventually became "Stories Under the Sycamore Tree" by Samuel J. Hahn and Scott Patton. The book is divided into nine sections each featuring plants which are referenced in the Bible. Each chapter begins with a plant as the subject, a Scriptural reference is given for the basis of the lesson, then the lesson about the plant is given, along with the plants correlation in the Bible, there is a lesson summary, then a prayer which follows to close the chapter.
Our family has used this book for family devotions.
This would make a great addition to any family library!

Sam Hahn & Scott Patton have combinded to produce a valuable and inspiring book. I am making use of it in my Sunday School class and for Children's Serons.

What a great adventure awaits the reader when illustrated pages turn on the theme of the plants in the Bible! Each of the 52 lessons is prefaced by a relevant scripture; then follows an inspiring and factual message by author, Samuel J. Hahn. Lessons are drawn out as an object for living and the reader is blessed with a prayer connecting the themes each plant displays. Colorful and accurate illustrations of each flower, tree or shrub by Scott Patton compliment the text. This is more than an inspiring resource, it is a joyful discovery!

This interesting book about plants and trees mentioned in the Bible could provide
a whole unit of study for a group of young people or adults. It includes little known
facts and uses for so many fruits, flowers, and trees. It is so informational! I enjoyed the book very much.

What an enjoyable book. The delicate illustrations enhance the stories and information. I have used this book as the basis of a program for a club meeting. You can read it all in one stretch or just take a topic at a time. Soothed by the language in the tales, you are surprised by how much you have learned. I keep this book in the guest bedroom for my friends to enjoy when they visit. As a librarian, I recognize the pleasure awaiting readers who purchase these stories.

The grandkids loved the book. They live in Tucson and see the Saguaros every day!

This book is very educational to use in a classroom or an education focused day camp and is not an easy read as a story book at bedtime.

I have used this book every year as a third grade teacher. It is wonderful as a read aloud for science to illustrate how animals and plants adapt to their environment and rely on other plants and animals for survival. This is one of the best books I have ever read to my class because it is not dull science jargon but presented as the story of the life of the cactus. Don't miss this one for teaching and learning about life science in the desert.

We have been reading many different desert books for a unit study. It seemed that we kept running across the same old information in every book. Then we read this one! It tells you things that you just don't find in other books. This turned out to be our favorite book. The pictures are wonderful and it is easily understandable by young children, thought adults will learn a thing or two as well! Highly recommended.

Our third grade loved your book. It gave us a lot of information about the desert. The illustrations were excellent. We especilly liked the use of author techniques such as diagrams, onomatopeias, catchy title and colorful illustrations. We would love to contact Barbara Bash.

Palms are a very conspicuous feature of the tropical landscape, whether in the wilds of Central and South America or in the suburban environments further north. They are also important economically (usually as fruit crops) and culturally (having uses as diverse as roofing, as material for weaving hammocks as fodder for edible beetle larvae!). Since everyone knows what a palm is, yet most non-specialists cannot get much beyond that, this guide to their identification should fill a niche.

This is a field guide to the 550 species of palm occurring naturally in the American tropics. The taxonomic treatment seems to this non-specialist to be eminently sensible and many knotty systematic probems appear to have been carefully resolved. A 40 page appendix of accepted names helps clarify what has happened to some of the older synonyms, hybrid names and such.

The authors have crammed an awful lot of new and useful information into the three-hundred and fifty odd pages. A main key permits identification to genera with further keys sprinkled throughout the body of the book. There are handy introductions to families and genera. The text is succinct and well oriented towards field identification while the 236 photographs at the back allow the user to quickly narrow down the search by visual means. Maps are provided for every species - this must have been a huge task! - and country checklists provide a further tool for homing in on the plant in question.

In resume, this is a master work which will be seen in the field for decades to come. It should be high on the list of any tropical landscape gardener, horticulturalist, anthropologist, botanist or naturalist.

Overall it would say that it 's the excellent job that authors has put together all the description of American palm species. It would be welcome among serious palm collectors as well as reserchers.

The only thing I don't like about this book and I think it is controversial among palm colleectors is that the book tends to lump down many named species into a synonymous for example, a genus Coccothrinax or the palms in the Attalea Group. Though not all of the recorded species are really distinct from each other, many of them are quite different and should be separately treated at least in a variety level i.e., genus Acrocomia which authors has lumped from 26 recorded species inot only 2 species. This is however not explicitly stated there at all.

This is probably the most useful book for anyone involved in plant identification, such as Forest Engineers, specially those working in tropical America, where one often encounters many kinds of palms in the field, but until now it was not easy to identify them, and palms are mostly overlooked because they have the reputation of being difficult to identify. This book changes it all, and it's definitely a must-have.

if you're interested in neotropical palms, you ought to buy this excellent guide. all three authors are considered to be highly esteemed authorities who know their stuff very well. the description said it had approximately 380 pages, but together with all the appendices and photo pages, the total number of pages gets to 500.

I use this book for field work, and it seems not fair that a book of three authors, appears as a one-author book, I know the other two people and they are scientist and work in the palms (Arecaceae) as well as Mr Henderson.

This book is an excellent reference book for Florida trees. The photography is absolutely beautiful. It allows the reader to easily identify a tree and then read about it as a layman or a more advanced horticulturist.

I believe it is a must buy for newcomers to Florida as well as anyone interested in flowering trees in the south.

A must for your Florida flora collection.

Like so many of us, Mark obviously loves tropical trees with gorgeous flowers. He has gathered together the best of the best and his photos are exceptional. Most of the trees covered are not just restricted to Florida but can be grown in other tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world.

This is really neat little book, well-printed and with top quality color pictures. The pictures are supported by brief and informative texts. The book gives a good overview of trees that blossom profusely with showy flowers and that are suitable for planting in the tropics. Beyond an emphasis on (C-& S-) American species and the use of Florida common names there is nothing in the book that ties it to Florida in particular.

This is a great reference book for flowering trees. The photos are outstanding. Includes a view of the whole tree and then a close-up of the flowers. Also good info about each tree.

I live in Southern California and most (if not all) can also be grown here. I want them all!

I highly recommend this book!

Planning on a move to Florida from Michigan, I was lost as to what kind of trees to landscape my large yard with. This book is wonderful! Especially helpful are the clear, color photos of both the flowers close-up, and then the entire tree in its flowered state. These pictures show the trees "shape" when full grown also. I'm so glad I got this, it will definitely help with my decisions on what trees to buy!!

This aptly named book does seem to unveil, to expose the quiet, sensual beauty of flowers. I am a photographer (amateur) of flowers who tries to reveal the veins, crepey folds and layers, shadings and colors, the infinite individuality of flowers. I think this gorgeous book does what I can barely hope to do.

Many of the flowers photographed here are ones with which I was not previously familiar -- especially in close up. It is the combination of incredibly close and detailed photography and a skillful artist's eye for which I was searching.

There are many books which accomplish a scientific disection of flowers in close up, but none with the emotional impact Joyce Tenneson's book achieves.

The photos in Intimacy are distinguished by the subtle richness of the color quality; many other photographers take bright-colored pictures of intimate floral details, but Tenneson's lighting makes these flowers glow almost mystically or recede into mysterious shadow. The standard black backdrop becomes an essential, emotionally involving par of the image.

Joyce Tenneson is known as an artistic photographer of people, notably in her black-and-white-book, "Wise Women," a bestseller in 2002. Now she has turned her lens on flowers. The subject is different but the aim is the same, she says--to reveal something deep within. The result is a series of portraits of common garden blooms presented in a n unusual light. Set against a black background, each becomes a study in form and color. Even the dried hydrangea floret seems special.

Joyce Tenneson is not only a gifted photographer, she is also in touch with the secrets of nature as documented in this extraordinarily beautiful, understated book of photographs of flowers. Using a monochromatic background (usually black) Tenneson focuses her eye and lens on the most fragile parts of flowers, irresistibly bringing us into the stamens and pistils at the core of creation or perpetration of flowers. There is something very sensual (in the finest sense of that word) to her work: she is not trying to make her subjects appear as metaphors to human anatomy a la Mapplethorpe - she just lets the flowers inner workings speak eloquently for themselves. Hence the title INTIMACY. But Tenneson does not limit her attention to the reproductive origins of her flowers: simple shots of petals and whole blossoms add to the journey or cycle of life. And sparingly inserted fragments of poetry from the likes of Rachel Carson and ee cummings comment just enough to keep the viewer in tune with the flow of the volume.This is an exquisite book, an ideal gift for those people in your life who flesh out your existence and enhance your world.