The African Violet Handbook Review

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(More customer reviews)Let me preface this by saying that this is the first book on African Violets that I've purchased. I have just gotten into the "Violet" hobby, and presently share my home with 26 of them (and growing!).
I was looking for a reference guide. I'm a novice but not neccessarily a beginner. There was a lot of great information there, if you are growing your first AV, and have no idea where to start in caring for it and there was a nice section on creating your own hybrids. But somehow I felt like the writer was talking down to me through the whole book. I would have liked to see more discussion about the different leaf and flower types, and a little less obbsessing about drownings.
If you're not starting at the very beginning of your African Violet hobby- maybe this isn't the right book for you, but if you are just starting, and need all of the basic information this could be a good jumping off point for you.

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Tony Clements, Britain's leading African violet specialist, knows the secret of keeping these supposedly tricky plants in beautiful condition. With over twenty years' experience of commercial violet growing behind him, he gives us the benefit of his expert advice on every aspect of care and cultivation, and shows how you can develop superb specimens with a long flowering season. Written in clear, straightforward style, completely free of technical jargon, and illustrated with superb colour photographs, this is an important book which will fire would-be collectors of these beautiful plants with enthusiasm and give encouragement to those who have previously found them difficult to grow. Completely up-to-date, this is the authoritative text on these beautiful plants.

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Perennials for Dummies Review

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(More customer reviews)I love gardening. If I am not in the garden working, my hand will be holding a book or a magazine on flowers. It's my seventh house and each time we moved I started all over again. But this time we moved south. Different climat, different soil, everything is different. Perennials gardening is still very new to South Carolina. I didn't have too much help from my neighboors or even the nurseries. I was crying for help until I found perennials for dummies. I am now redoing the first bed that I did when I moved here following their instructions on the preparation of the soil and the best type of plants to use for this torrid, humid weather with mild winter. I recommend that book for any beginner and good gardeners. You will always find a new tips or answers to your questions and on top of that they are funny.

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Discusses the selection and care of perennial flowers, ferns, and grasses and suggests varieties for different conditions, soils, and climates.

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Carnivorous Plants of the World Review

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(More customer reviews)Overall, the photos are quite good. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the written material. There were a number of errors in plant information. An example was the information presented for the monotypic genus Darlingtonia californica, which contained erroneous information regarding its habitat extending north into British Columbia. The line drawings in this work are quite delightful and worth viewing. Overall, this book would be useful to newcomers into the world of Carnivourous plants, but long time hobbyists should examine other publications for more serious, in-depth information.

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Few groups of plants capture the imagination like these carnivores, which act as predators rather than prey. Among the best known are the Venus fly trap and the various pitcher plants; these and many others are covered.Published at $34.95 Our last copies available at $17.49

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Planting the Future: Saving Our Medicinal Herbs Review

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(More customer reviews)Planting the Future provides both motivation and instruction for saving medicinal plants. The public's growing realization of the healing potential of plants is positive, but over-harvesting has led to a decline in native stands of many plants. Rosemary Gladstar has gathered a stellar team of writers to address the issue. The index reads like a who's-who of the herbal world. More than 30 plants are addressed in individual articles written by herbalists who know and love them. A grower of any size can use the information, the backyard up to a large sanctuary. A gardener can find the plants best suited their area, as well as how to propagate and care for them. Once grown, there is information about the preparation and use of the plants. My own tiny urban medicinal garden is part of the effort to save valuable plants thanks to guidance from these leaders. Herbalists, native plant enthusiasts and conservationists will all find value in this book.

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Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants Review

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(More customer reviews)I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Nyerges's book is weak on its photos and plant identification but is excellent as a companion book to all those boring plant ID texts. His book provides excellent background and practical information from someone who has actually used these plants. While geared for California, many of the plants are found across the U.S. especially in the West.

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An array of abundant wild foods is available to hikers, campers, botanists or anyone interested in living closer to the earth. Written by a leading expert on wild foods and a well-known teacher of survival skills, Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants is more than a listing of plant types—it teaches how to recognize edible plants and where to find them, their medicinal and nutritional properties, and their growing cycles. It also includes fascinating folklore about plants, personal anecdotes about trips and meals, simple and tasty recipes, and photographs.

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Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs Review

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(More customer reviews)No matter how hard I search, I've yet to find the "perfect" book on herb use and herb growing. This book isn't perfect, but it does have some real strengths.
Rodale's ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HERBS is organized in a strange way--everything, and I mean everything--falls into alphabetical order. For example, "Gardening with Herbs falls between "Foxgloves" and "Garlic" and "Growing Herbs" falls between "Grindellia" and "Hawthorn."
The book is printed on semi-gloss paper so it will stand up to use and not crumble in a few years. Each entry contains line drawing illustrations and a few sections of the book are highlighted with color photos.
The plant profiles are succinct, covering topics such as 'history', 'cultivation' and 'uses.' Many entries contain material from other sources such as Maud Grieves' A MODERN HERBAL Vols. 1-2. Some information is repeated without attribution or verification. I always find "They say" and "It is thought" offputting, while I appreciate direct citations of which there are many in this book.
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA covers some topics not readily found in other books. The most useful of these is a compendium discussing the "Dangers of Herbs" (located between "Dandelion" and "Deadly Nightshade." The editors have compiled the FDA listing of "tricky" herbs (could kill or cure depending on use) from PREVENTION magazine, as well as similar ratings from James Duke's CRC HANDBOOK OF MEDICINAL HERBS, Jean Rose's HERBS AND THINGS, and Varro Tyler's THE HONEST HERBAL. You realize on reading this section that everything is relative.
The biggest problem with the misuse of herbal remedies is the misclassification of plants by the practicioner. To be an herbal healer one simply must understand botany. The second biggest problem is conflicting information about what a plant will or will not do based on singular accounts (which could be the result of a misclassification of plants or a misapplication of the plant extract). The third problem is idiosyncratic plant and human interaction. One man's poison can be another man's elixer. As with synthetic drugs, each individual has a unique chemical compostion and the herb in question may or may not be effective, or in some cases may provoke an allergy. Of course, there are some herbs that are downright deadly as every mystery reader knows.
This wouldn't be a Rodale book with out a section on "Pests" and "Pest Control" or the synergistic and conflicting effects of various plant combinations in the garden. This information and the sections on poisonous attributes make the book worth it's cost. All I can say about plant combinations can be summed up to this...plant catnip. You'll have to read the book to find out which kind.

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