Native Trees for North American Landscapes

Rating:
Summary: A must own for the environmentally conscious
Review: 137 billion tax dollars were spent last year alone eradicating, controlling, and managing exotic species of plants which included trees such as The Chinese Tallow, Tree Of Heaven, Autumn Olive, and Buckthorn. It is time the public be made aware that native tree alternatives are out there and they are the responsible choice. Release of a book so well written and sensitive to the complex and diverse issues posed by the existence of invasives is long over due. Kudos to Sternberg and Wilson for endeavoring to write such an informative book. Native Trees for North American Landscapes addresses these issues and many more. This is a must have book for anyone in the forestry, nursery, or landscape industry as well as the home hobbyist.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book for tree lovers and everyone else, too!
Review: Guy and Jim have done it again!

I have one of Guy and Jim's other books: Landscaping with Native Trees and I am so excited to finally have their new book: Native Trees for North American Landscapes.

This book is well written and is written in a style that both the plant-person and the novice gardener can easily understand and appreciate.

Guy and Jim provide a breakdown for each of the trees listed in the book. This is a listing of the information given for each tree:

-Description (includes size)
-Leaves
-Flower and Fruit OR Cones and Seeds
-Best Season
-Native and Adaptive Range
-Culture
-Problems
-Cultivars
-Similar and Related Species
-Comments

The above information makes it very easy for anyone to decide whether a particular tree is suitable for their site (and USDA growing zone) and how they want to use the tree, whether it be as a specimen, screen, etc.

I read Ben Johnson's review of this book and I don't quite understand his vendetta against Guy and Jim and this book.

Ben had (has) some problems with some of the technical words that Guy and Jim have used periodically through the text. Ben must not be able to use the glossary that is included in the back of the book because all of the words that he has a problem with are included there along with their definitions. Don't be frightened by Ben's fear of new words. If you find a word that you are not familiar with, then check the glossary in the back of the book for the definition - it's that easy. It's how we learn.

After reading Ben's review of this book it is clear that he is not really reviewing the book so much as trying to attack Guy's character. This is not the place for that sort of thing.

I, too, frequent the forums on GardenWeb and I have found Guy to be very generous with his advise and help. I read the thread on GardenWeb regarding the removal of a tree because of a problem with the birds pooping on vehicles and, again, Ben has twisted and taken words out-of-context to attack Guy. I have never met Guy in person, but I have the utmost respect for Guy because of all of the help I have received from him through the forums on GardenWeb.

If you want help sorting out which native trees you might want to include in your landscape or you simply want to learn more about the wonderful native trees that grow in this great country of ours, then this is the book for you!

Guy and Jim have written this book about native trees because of their love for our native trees and to get people to, hopefully, include some native trees in their home landscapes.

The photography in the book is outstanding, too.
You will not be disappointed if you purchase this book.
Mike

Rating:
Summary: Represents a lifetime of research and work
Review: Guy Sternberg and Jim Wilson's Native Trees For North American Landscapes represents a lifetime of research and work: the authors provide an in-depth technical catalog of detail on native trees and their environments, providing tree 'profiles' which describe flowers, fruit, plant ranges, and culture. Sections outlining best seasonal features are particularly useful, telling gardeners which plants are showiest per season. Stunning photos and outlines of common cultivation problems and solutions make Native Trees For North American Landscapes a solid, invaluable reference for landscapers, libraries and home gardens alike.

Rating:
Summary: A Garden Book Classic
Review: I am a plant freak, and I am a gardening book freak. I have many, many books, probably too many. Literally. So many books that I've bought that looked interesting at the store have wound up sitting on the shelf, never to be opened again. This is one that will never even get to the shelf.

This book is so comprehensive, so informative, so beautiful to look at, and so danged readable that I find myself seeking it out whenever I've got a free moment. How many gardening books have you bought lately that poured forth all the information you could possibly want? How many have you bought lately that were a lot of fun to read? Now, how many can you name that do both at the same time? A precious few, but this one does.

Timber Press celebrated their 25th Anniversary this past year, and I did something I never do, I wrote the company a letter. In essence, what I said was this, "I never mind buying a Timber Press Book, often sight unseen, because I know it will be good." This book is excellent, even by Timber Press standards.

If you have any interest in trees or gardening, you will find this book a "must have." Informative, enjoyable, beautiful. What else could you want?

Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: I think the other reviewer was having a bad day when he wrote all that stuff about this book, because this book is a godsend. I have been looking for something this comprehensive for a long time. It is extremely well-organized, with beautiful pictures and good, solid information. I really enjoy all the extra information provided by the author on various tree species, too, much of it interesting ethnobotanically. The author has an obvious affection for trees that I find quite infectious. His writing is packed full of information while somehow also maintaing an element of charm and fun, a combo that is pretty hard to find in a gardening book. I expect my copy will be extremely worn within a very short time. Worth every penny!!

Rating:
Summary: Good pictures but.........
Review: Some very beautiful pictures, but the minuses of this book far outweigh the pluses. First and foremost, the primary author appears intent on showing how knowledgeable he is in the botanical field, rather than writing descriptions that a non-botanist can understand.

For example, rather than saying "the species name" which most people would recognize, the author uses the correct, but erudite "specific epithet". Here is just a small sampling of "big words" used by the author: phyllotaxy, pendent racemes, infraspecific taxonomy, staminate, pistillate, etc. This would be okay if the book were oriented towards university study such as Dirr's Manual of Woody Plants, but this book is clearly not oriented towards that. It is oriented towards getting the novice gardener to use more native trees in landscaping. What is really strange about this propensity to throw around scientific words when the author's description would be much more useful if he used ordinary English, is the author's recognition of the high fallutin' language being rather stilltifying as in the following -"The paired fruits or samaras (also know as schizocarps by those who like to throw around big words)". A case of the pot calling the kettle black if there ever was one.

In my opinion, the most serious drawback to this book is the tendency of the author to preach to the reader. Take this for example:

"Everyone intersted in woods lore has probably heard about 'D.Boone cilled a bar' being carved on the smooth bark of beech trees where the famous explorer had a successful bear hunt. The trunk of the last of Daniel Boone's defiled trees can still be seen in a museum in Louisville, Kentucky. Unfortunately, this least admirable trait of Boone's seems to be the one people most imitate, and it is increasinly difficult to find elegeant old beech trees with smoooth, lichen-mottled bark not disfigured by some thoughtless person's knife." Give me a break.

Sternberg also has an environmental agenda, in which he assumes global warming to be true and forecasting the elimination of most beeches in our forest as a result.

The final annoyance is the author's prediliction to name drop. Rather than saying "so and so" was involved with "so and so", it is invariably "my good friend so and so" or "Dr. so and so, head of the International so and so society" with the clear impression being to let the reader know how "well circled" the author is.

I could go on and on with examples of the primary author's tirades and harangues, but suffice it to say that if you want to be preached at and condescended to in "big words", then enjoy the book. He brings this same attitude to the tree forum on Gardenweb in which he once offered to lead a "lynch mob" after some poor guy who in desperation was contemplating removing a tree that birds were pooping from all over his driveway, cars, and children, although it was clear that the fellow was not serious about removing the tree.

If you want a great photo essay of native trees without the overt agenda of Sternberg's, try Dr. Michael Dirr's excellent photographic expositions of woodies with their marvelous photographs.

Rating:
Summary: BUY THIS BOOK BEFORE YOU GO TO THE NURSERY ! ! !
Review: This is one of, if not the best book about trees you can buy. It is informative for the amateur as well as the pro. The pictures are beautiful, my favorite is of the Burr Oak photographed in a horse pasture. I waited over a year for this book, well worth it! I consider myself an amateur arborist and would highly reccomend this book to anyone with an interest in trees and nature in general. I do not see an underlying agenda by the author, just useful information and honest opinions.

Rating:
Summary: This will become a premier reference on woody plants......
Review: This outstanding new book will become one of the primary references for all kinds of information about native woody plants of North America. Many of the plant descriptions have far more detailed information on culture, diseases, and ornamental characteristics than the widely known reference books by Michael Dirr (the 'standards' by which all other woody plant references are judged). While the intent is to provide information and promote the ornamental characteristics of native woody plants, for home gardeners and landscape professionals, this will also prove to be a valuble reference for naturalists and others mainly interested in these plants in the native, rather than the cultivated, landscape. The photographs are outstanding, and will certainly promote interest in many little known and underutilized woody plants. I never knew there were so many native North American oaks! As a botanist and later home gardener with a life-long interest in woody plants, there are few books in the past decade which have been published with this level of detail and value.

Rating:
Summary: I waited months for this book to be released!
Review: Timber Press has done it again! They have a reputation that preceeds itself for publishing only quality. I had purchased Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants and was extremely disappointed in that illustrations provided were black line drawings lacking detail I craved. Additionally, I had difficulty with the manner in which Dirr presented material. The Native Trees For North American Landscapes book was capable of presenting extremely technical information that both a seasoned veteran and an amateur, such as myself, could both derive substantial benefits from. The authors have a knowledge of botany that resounds from every page. This book is destined to be an authoritative addition to any library be it academic, home, or public.