Plants and Trees Books

Good for quick identification of various woodland trees, plants and mushrooms. Descriptions are short and undetailed and maps are innacurate.
Ok for use as a pocket guide on a hike but can be a little frustrating as it is fairly general and many trees & plants are not shown.

This book is rich with many picts of Dendrobium species, and followed by short information on each of the species, appearance of flowers, growth habit and distribution. I always use this book with Dendrobium and Its Relatives by P. S. Lavarack to identify some orchids from eastern part of Indonesia(mostly Dendrobium family)

We checked this out of the library for my almost-5-year old daughter, and she has really enjoyed it. On each page, we'd read a brief and poetic description of what season it was and what the plant and its flowers looked like, and how the flowers were pollinated. Then, half of the page would fold out to reveal the fruit or vegetable (or legume, in the case of peanuts)that would grow on the plant. It was a fun guessing game at first, then a fun remembering game on subsequent reads. The illustrations are wonderful, showing the plant in various stages of fruit development. There are detailed illustrations showing the initial transformation from flower to fruit. My daughter just found this fascinating! The book teaches quite a bit, but doesn't sound at all dry to read. And it doesn't get into too much detail about the parts of the plant/flower. There is a small section in the back with a bit more detailed description...but rather than simply reading that, I took some of the information from it and would just mention it during the story: "look, see those? That's called the stamen of the flower," or "see the yellow on the bee's legs? That's the pollen he got from this flower, and he's taking it over to that flower."

I love reading books to my daughter that teach her about the natural world. This one does it in a fun way, and I highly recommend it for any child who is interested in how flowers change into the fruits and vegetables he or she loves!

This 32-page pamphlet is quite useful. It certainly convinced me to go the route of planting dwarf trees on my small suburban yard. The content is very good. A tree zone map, a fairly comprehensive tables of trees, and a small list of suppliers are all included. The site planning section was very handy and the information about planting and maintenance are solid. My one complaint is that I wish it were perhaps a bit more solidly published.

This contains the same information as the three books (PROSEA VOL 5(1-3)), plus some additional color pictures and a ID-facility.

Gardening was a popular hobby for some of the Colonials, and they adapted native plants to their gardens, imported old favorites, and avidly traded new discoveries. The focus here is on Colonial Williamsburg and the Southern colonies rather than the Northeast.

This was an interesting little book. It would have been nice if it had been printed on better quality paper. Especially enjoyable for native and "old" plant enthusiasts.

this is a very nice little book for beginers whith some gardening experence who would like to try bonzai without much attachment to perfect results.

A great book for both the experienced and novice gardener. Informative pictures, clear, concise and easy to follow.

However as many of us gardeners know the only way to prune is to get out there and do it! Mistakes will be made but hopefully not as many with this guide.

This book is a must have for any one interested in Colorado native plants It gives you just enough information to appreciate the habitats that these plants come from without sending you right to their doorsteps. Reasonable photography, Great illustrations.

This book is a lexicon for all Rododendron hybrids, listing about 5000 different varieties and gives their pedigree, as far as known, amended by a short description. The appendix has almost 600 good photos. For rhododendron addicts it may be the essential work if you want to produce new varieties or if you need to identify a hybrid. However, there is no information at all about Rhododendra in general and their cultivation. This book is a reference for scholars, not a useful guide for a rhododendrophile hobby gardener.