Book Description

This guide, covering 1,505 species of wildflowers, groups flowers by color and plant characteristics for easy matching of pictures with specimens. With descriptions facing the more than 1,500 illustrations, all the information you need can be seen at a glance. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Revised edition with wildflower walks
This book was originally published in 1985, and my copy belongs to the eighth printing in 1999. Its popularity is well-deserved. Author and photographer, Harry C. Lund has spent many years hiking through bogs, forests, meadows, and sand dunes in Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas and its off-shore islands in order to put together this book for us. I have yet to find a Michigan wild flower that isn't listed in this guide. The book is well-bound and would easily fit into your backpack for a walk through the wild.

The flower photographs are grouped by color for ease of location. They are then listed in the order in which they appear during the growing season, which is a little trickier to use. I basically start at the beginning of a color group and page through until I find the flower I'm trying to identify. There are generally six photographs to a page, with the text on the facing page. In some cases, the photographs are a bit too small to easily recognize the flower, but when combined with the text there should be no identification problem.

At the beginning of "Michigan Wildflowers in Color," the author has illustrated textual terms such as 'stipules' or 'basal leaves' with a collection of line drawings. The plant descriptions include location, seasonal display, height, and information on whether the flower is protected and should not be picked or moved.

There is a quiz at the back of the book to test your 'flower power.' There is also an 'Observer's List' to keep track of the flowers you do find. Unfortunately, the first entry I wanted to check off wasn't on the list! Perhaps this is because Crown Vetch is not really a wild flower, although its photograph and description appear in the main section of this book.

The author has also mapped out eight wildflower trails in various Michigan habitats, plus the seasonal species of flowers that can be found there.

In total, "Michigan Wildflowers in Color" is a very helpful guide, especially when used in combination with a book like the Peterson "Field Guide to Wildflowers" where the drawings might serve as a confirmation or a backup to Lund's photographs. Leaves in particular are easier to identify through Peterson's drawings.

Michigan Wildflowers in Color
I have found this guide extremely helpful in identifying species found near our summer home in Michigan. It has excellent photographs, arranged by color, and a chart showing habitats, seasons, and growing conditions. There is a blank chart for entering your own finds. It is informative and user friendly. I would recommend it highly to both novice and experienced wildflower lovers. ... Read more

Book Description

A comprehensive field guide to the unique and diverse flora ofthe canyonlands region of the southwestern U.S. Four-corners area.Color photographs and easy-to-understand descriptions help to identify190 of the most commonly found wildflowers, shrubs, and trees in thisfrequently visited area. The author also addresses relationshipsbetween plants and environmental factors to give readers a broaderunderstanding of this special terrain. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Absolutely delightful
The Colorado Plateau country of southern Utah, western Colorado, and northern Arizona is justifiably famous for its magnificent scenery, but the stunning wildflowers are less widely appreciated. Fagan's "Canyon Country Wildflowers" is the best guide to these treasures that I've yet seen. The photographs are absolutely top-notch (sometimes I browse the guide, just daydreaming...), often showing the entire plant in its natural habitat. Likewise, the collection is relatively complete. Flowers are organized by colors and typically easy to find. To top it off, the book is relatively compact and durable in the field. Nowadays, I don't head south without it. -William Adair, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Utah State University ... Read more

Book Description

Colorado Trees & Wildflowers, An Introduction to Familiar Species, is a must-have, reference guide for beginners and experts alike. Whether you're on a nature hike or taking a stroll in your neighborhood, you'll want to take along a copy of this indispensable guide.

The Pocket Naturalist(tm) series is an introduction to common plants and animals and natural phenomena. Each pocket-sized, folding guide highlights up to 150 species and most feature a map identifying prominent sanctuaries and outstanding natural attractions. Each is laminated for durability. ... Read more

Book Description

Forces of nature and human intervention lead to innumerable local, regional and sometimes global changes in plant community patterns. Regardless of the causes and the intensity of change, ecosystems are often naturally able to recover most of their attributes through natural succession. In this thoughtful and provocative new book, Fakhri Bazzaz integrates and synthesizes information on how disturbance changes the environment, how species function, coexist, and share or compete for resources in populations and communities, and how species replace each other over successional time. It illustrates how a diverse array of plant species have been used to examine fundamental questions in plant ecology by integrating physiological, population and community ecology. Graduate students and research workers in plant ecology, global change, conservation and restoration will find the perspective and analysis offered by this book an exciting contribution to the development of our understanding of plant successional change. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A fine guide to the budding and experienced naturalist
I believe that this book will be valuable to the budding naturalist struggling to keep up on a wildflower hike and to the seasoned ranger in Everglades National Park. Arranged by color, the book is easy to use while giving a tour with interesting anecdotes that you can study beforehand. A great addition to anyones Nature Guides. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

The best in the field!
There has never been a handsomer, more erudite, more pleasurable wildflower book to read than this one. Sanders has done a magnificent job of pulling together information from an array of sources---up-to-date science, folklore, descriptive natural history, medicinal uses, and more. Botanical manuals and field guides are vital for identifying North American wildflowers. This book is vital to learn the stories behind the species. It's beautiful to page through and a delight to read. I recommend it most highly! ... Read more

Book Description

This standard-setting, state-of-the-art field guide to the wildflowers of Indiana (and surrounding states) includes all 1,568 herbaceous species recorded in the state. It contains 640 color photographs, along with helpful explanations and numerous drawings of the characteristics that separate each of the individual species.

This Field Guide replaces every previous guide to Indiana wildflowers. With an emphasis on completeness, strong visual presentation, and simplicity of terminology, this book will be invaluable to anyone, amateur or botanical professional, interested in Indiana's diverse wildflower population. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A much needed field guide to Indiana wildflowers
This field guide to Indiana wildflowers should be a valuable reference for both the professional and amateur botanist. The species descriptions given are adequate to distinguish similar species in most cases. The ranges given for several species appear to be inaccurate. ... Read more

Book Description

Now you can cut years off the process of learning about plants.Learn how related plants have similar features for identification.Discover how they often have similar properties and similar uses.Toms book takes you beyond the details towards a greater understanding of the patterns among plants.Most plant books cover only one or two hundred species.Botany in a Day includes more than 100 plant families and over 700 generaincluding edible and medicinal usesapplicable to many thousands of species.

With this book you will be able to recognize patterns in plants everywhere you goin the wild, in your garden, among house plants, even at the florist.Understand the magic of patterns among plants, and the world will never look the same again!

Many people recognize plants from the Mint family because they have square stalks, opposite leaves and most of them smell minty.I like to start my classes with a discussion of the the Mints because this pattern is so well known.What people dont realize is that similar patterns exist for other families of plants as well.Simply put, the study of botany is the study of patterns in plants!

Learning patterns in plants is fun, and you only need to learn about 100 broad patterns to recognize something about virtually every plant from coast to coast across the northern latitdudes.

In a two hour plant walk we typically start with the Mint Family, then progress through the Mustard, Pea, Parsley, Borage, Lily and Aster Families, so that every student can easily recognize these common families representing several thousand species.Ive had people tell me they learned more in that two hour walk than in an entire semester of botany in college. Thomas J. Elpel, Botany in a Day AUTHORBIO: Thomas J. Elpel had the rare opportunity as a child to spend hundreds of hours with his grandmother, exploring the hills and meadows of Montana.Toms grandmother helped him to learn about the native plants and their uses, igniting a passion for nature that has inspired Tom ever since.

Tom is now the director of Hollowtop Outdoor Primitive School (HOPS) in Pony, Montana where he teaches classes on stone age skills, including botany.Botany in a Day grew from Toms desire to provide an easy means for other people to discover a closer connection with the natural world.Tom is also the author of three other books inspired by nature, including: Participating in Nature, Direct Pointing to Real Wealth and Living Homes. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Tremendous help to this novice
When I started a new hobby of photographing wildflowers, I had no clue on the importance of learning plant families in order to identify them. If I couldn't tell from the picture in a field guide, I was up a creek. "Botany in a Day" was the first book I found that organized the families in a simple, clear way that I could understand and this system has become my main guide for grouping and identification. The herbal information is interesting, but not relevant to my project. I'm very grateful for the help I've received from this book

Good intention, disappointing result
This book could have been a gem for people interested in botany and healing plants, but it does not manage to fill this void. The text is not read by a professional botanist (I assume) and incorrect or dubious facts are common. Furthermore, the text is filled with typos and misspellings that could easily have been caught in a simple spell-checking program. The figures are from older literature and are not well reproduced. The aim with this book, to explain botany in a day, is highly recommendable, but I cannot recommend this book in its present shape and quality-level. A completely corrected, re-formatted, and revised edition of this book is needed. For people interested in the plant families of North America I instead recommend the high-quality work of Zomlefer: Guide to Flowering Plant Families.

A comprehensive guide to plant families
Though definitely *not* a field guide. This book is intended to be an introduction to plant families, and it does a good job at that. All the vascular plant families present in North America are briefly described and identification tips noted. Very few actual species are thoroughly described, though the "medicinal" properties of many species, mostly collected from other sources, are recounted here. This book would be better titled "Herbalism in a Day" as it's long on lists of medicinal uses and short on detailed botanical information. I'm pleased I purchased it, but it would be a inadequate substitute for an actual field guide or flora.

Covers over 100 plant families and over 700 genera
Most plant books cover a few hundred species: Botany In A Day covers over 100 plant families and over 700 genera, from edible plants to medicinal plants, providing a focus on herbal plant families which users will find easy and important. No color photos; black and white line drawings serve as the illustration for descriptions which are detailed, from the plant's appearance to the author's experiences using the plant in applications. Botany In A Day is simply packed with information and an invaluable reference for aspiring gardeners and neophyte horticulturalists.

Let the cover be your judge!
Contrary to the old axiom, this book actually delivers what it promises on the cover. By spending just one day with this book you'll get a fairly comprehensive understanding of the evolution of plants, their general classifications, and unique properties. The author writes in a very straightforward, concise, easy-to-read style that lets you absorb the information quickly and easily without being burdened with excessive detail. I also thoroughly enjoyed his Gestalt approach to Botany. I purchased this book as a supplement to my college course in Field Botany and discovered a wonderful resource. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Now I Know !
Having a passion for plants I felt I needed to take it to the next level by being able to understand what I was really purchasing at garden nurseries.Most identifying tags on plants for sale list their family names which I did not understand so I had no idea what I was really buying!This book was easy to comprehend,making it easy for me to retain and use the information.This book has made me a more knowledgeable consumer not to mention that I can impress my friends! ... Read more

Book Description

The majestic area of New Jersey known as the pine barrens is a vast natural area acknowledged worldwide for its unique flora. In this guide, Howard P. Boyd offers readers 150 detailed descriptions along with 130 color photographs of the most commonly seen pine barrens wild flower species. Avoiding highly technical language and terminology, Boyd makes it easy for anyone to identify and appreciate these natural beauties of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Organized chronologically by blossoming times, this insightful guide is a must-have for anyone interested in the flora of the pine barrens. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

My primary reference for area wildflowers
This is the first book I pick up when identifying wildflowers of Ohio. The information is complete and entertaining, as well, with interesting notations regarding the history of many of the plants. The beautiful photos make it easy to recognize most of the flowers in the field immediately. I recommend this book as a useful and enjoyable way to learn about regional wildflowers.

Use this book to get started
This book is by no means a comprehensive listing of all wildflowers and shrubs in Ohio, but it is a great resource for anyone who is just getting acquainted with plant identification. Using this guide, you should be able to identify most plants that are in flower to species and identify the rest to family or genus. The color pictures are clear and the format is easy to use. I would recommend this book to hikers, butterfly enthusiasts, and anyone else who appreciates wildflowers and wants to be able to identify more of them.

Great Book
This book is just fine! I totally disagree with the 1st reviewer. I have other books that are also helpful and need to use them all for reference. The photos are helpful and the information is totally accurate & I consider my self an expert in this area. I don't know what the 1st reviewer is talking about??? I prefer this to Perterson's Guides. I use Audobon's as my 1st choice and use this as a good everyday back up.

pathetic
i think that these books are totally inaccurate me being a flower lover figured the books would at least be half close.

Easy to use local field guide
For anyone wanting to know more about Ohio's wildflowers, Henn's field guide is a thorough and easy to use resource. Flowers are sorted by color, and information such as habitat, blooming period and scientific classification are provided. This is a very thorough guide and I have yet to see a wildflower in Ohio that is not in this book. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Wildflowers of Texas
This book was a great help to my classmates and I. We had a project and had to look up flowers the names and scientific names and it was so easy to use it took us no time at all.

very informative
A truly beautiful book. I walk in the fields and identify most of the flowers. There is one however, that I can't seem to find in the book. Will send a picture of it, if you like. Please advise. rosalee

good for beginners because organized by flower color
I have found this wildflower ID book extremely useful to my students because they do not have to wade through the selections by families but can narrow down their searching and time by going directly to the color section for the flower they have. The page size of the book makes it more useful for field ID than bigger sized books. A few of the photos lack definitive pictures of leaf, bud, and stem structures and may give a mistaken impression of flower size.

A "must-have" for identifying wildflowers in Texas!!!
This is a great reference manual that shows actual pictures of the plants with a full description and even some interesting facts about the plant itself. I use this book a lot when trying to identify roadside plants or the wild ones in my yard. The book is separated into sections by flower color to make it easier to look up a new plant. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (6)

Whose rose is this?....
Thomas Christopher, a garden writer with a great deal of experience went looking for wild roses. His trip took him all over the United States from Connecticut to Texas to California to the American South. He discovered a unique fellowship of individuals who over the years have grown and thus preserved what are known as 'old roses'.

I happen to grow Blanc Double de Courbet in my own garden, so was a little annoyed to read that one of Mr. Christopher's interviewees (Mike Lowe of Nashua NH) did not particularly like this particular Rugosa rose. I agree the blossoms are not very tidy as they wither on the plant, but cut a few of these roses in full bloom and bring them in the house and you won't care about the faded blossoms (which are more scented than some of the modern hybrids in full bloom). I like to place a vase of these white roses next to my reading chair. The scent is so fabulous that from time to time I become aware of it no matter how engrossing the book.

Christopher interviews folks in California who live in the old gold mine areas where everything is in shambles except the roses growing madly in the abandoned gardens. He interviews elderly Black women who have grown old roses abandoned by their employers who took up with the new hybrids. The true identity of the roses is often unknown (or was not known before modern genetics) and thus the roses have acquired the names of the persons who 'saved' them. For example, one rose named 'Miss Mary Minor' was later identified as 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'.

Malmaison, as anyone who grows roses knows was the garden of Josephine Bonaparte. All garden writers who tell the tale like to remind readers that even the British during their battles with Napoleon accommodated Malmaison. Josephine was able to maintain her garden and stay in contact with British Rosarians in spite of the sea battles that raged around her.

Which leads to the decision of the United States to name the rose as the national flower (the rose is the national flower of England not France). Some of us are old enough to remember Senator Dirksen lauding the marigold and nominating it for the honor of national flower. Chistopher reminds the reader that like Benjamin Franklin and the turkey, Dirksen was doomed to fail. In the end, the US congress chose the rose. Some us like to imagine the American rose is a wild five-petaled rose and not one of those silly hybrids found in florist's shops.

A delight for rose lovers, and a fun read for anyone
My family has a long-standing love affair with roses: a "Belle of Portugal" that my grandmother planted in the 1920's has been passed down through several generations. So I found this book utterly delightful, full of fascinating anecdotes about old varieties of roses, the characters who developed and distributed them, and the even wilder characters who "rustle" and propagate old roses with passion and gusto today. The chapters are thematic and geographical, rather than historical, but they're immensely fun to read. I learned all sorts of amazing historical trivia -- e.g., why the Grass Valley, CA public library owns a Cornish/English dictionary, and the political aspects of rose nomenclature. And, as someone interested in "heirloom" plants in general (I'm a card-carrying member of Slow Food), I found his discussion of rose genetics and propagation fascinating. Some of his stories are poignant, too -- e.g., the elderly black women in rural Texas who propagated roses over the centuries from sheer love, but were dying out even as he wrote. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and recommend it even if you're not an old rose buff.

Few gardening books like this one
For me, Gardening is about feeding my soul with beauty. If you are weary from reading the countless "how-to" gardening books that fill the shelves of the bookstore, then I would highly recommend this book.

Did you know that public parks evolved historically from cemeteries? Read this book to find out more.

And, no doubt, as other reviewers have noted, you will go out and find yourself one of these roses after reading their story.

Great book! :-)

An interesting personal story
This book was an interesting compendium of the experiences of the author in looking for and finding old roses. He gives insight into the background of roses, where to find them and practical knowledge of the collecting. I do think it is a scientific work or an index, rather an interesting read about how he approached collecting old roses and what made them interesting to him. I enjoyed it!

~a life-long collector of garden writing says...~
There are few books in my gardening library so excellent I buy extra copies; miserly dealt out only to The Worthy. One of them is In Search Of Lost Roses.

In Search Of Lost Roses is a romp. A detective story. We are outlaws. We skulk through forgotten cemeteries. We drive old dirt roads. We meet eccentric old folks over garden gates, guardian angels of roses whose scent we will remember all our lives; things foreign to hybridizers in white lab coats.

I defy you to read this book and ~not~ acquire at least one of the old roses lauded within. My first choice was 'Aimee Vibert', a climbing noisette from 1828. England and France have an ancient horticultural feud. French nurseryman J.P. Vibert named his fragrant white masterpiece after his daughter. (As an aside: hunt plants with a woman's name. Only the best plants were named after wives, daughters, and mistresses.) Vibert said of his delicate climber "The English when they see her will go down on their knees." As I did and still do. For the three weeks she blooms on the arbor she is the goddess of the garden. She has a magnetizing effect on garden visitors and I tell them the story and say the punchline in my Inspector Clouseau accent. It is a testament to Mlle. Vibert that 200 years later she is still enchanting, passed down gardener to gardener. I never would have known her without In Search Of Lost Roses.

You will never forget this book. But buy it for the rose rustler's cutting recipe alone, if you will. They helped me to root cuttings from a fragrant and summer-long unknown in an ancient cemetery (I gave her the name of the lady she was planted over) after two years of trying other methods. And buy two. Perhaps someone you know is worthy. 5 Stars for Mr. Christopher. ... Read more

Book Description

The Handbook of Reference Methods for Plant Analysis is an outstanding resource of plant analysis procedures, outlined in easy-to-follow steps and laboratory-ready for implementation. Plant laboratory preparation methods such as dry ashing and acid and microwave digestion are discussed in detail. Extraction techniques for analysis of readily soluble elements (petiole analysis) and quick test kits for field testing are also presented. This handbook consolidates proven, time tested methods in one convenient source. Plant scientists in production agriculture, forestry, horticulture, environmental sciences, and other related disciplines will find the Handbook a standard laboratory reference.The Handbook was written for the Soil and Plant Analysis Council, Inc., of which the editor is a board member. The council aims to promote uniform soil test and plant analysis methods, use, interpretation, and terminology; and to stimulate research on the calibration and use of soil testing and plant analysis. This reference will help readers reach these important goals in their own research. ... Read more

Book Description

Here's a beautiful gift book, stunningly illustrated, that delivers a positive message of renewal and strength. With their exuberant beauty, sunflowers are among nature's most cheerful and steadfast blossoms, standing tall in the fields as they turn their faces gracefully toward the sun. Filled with exquisite artwork, wise insights, and timeless observations about the simple pleasures of nature from writers as diverse as Willa Cather and Victor Hugo, as well as from philosophers, artists, poets, and musicians, Sunflowers is sure to bring a smile to anyone who's ever admired one. ... Read more