Month-by-month Gardening In Florida

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Summary: Let's face it - gardening in Florida is different...
Review: ...from the rest of the country, and sometimes even different within regions of the state. MacCubbin's book, organized by plant type (separate sections for roses, vegetables, trees, etc.) offers the prone-to-be-organized gardener a step-by-step approach to follow. I've found that I read through all 12 months for roses (as an example) to get an overview, and then gone back to this month to see what Tom recommends specifically. Beyond the basic instructions, though, MacCubbin has offered a variety of tips, insights, even history, in offset boxes throughout his chapters. These additional tidbits really set the book apart from the typical how-to book. Best of all, Tom's experience in Florida gives you the confidence to discern your best course of action from among all the gardening voices out there, most of which have to be geographically generic - which usually means "not applicable in Florida."

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: This book has lots of things in it. I think it will help to know month by month what to do. I purchased this book because we will be moving to Florida and I want all the knowledge I can get.

Rating:
Summary: A little convoluted
Review: This books strengths are its wonderful lists of plants defined by climate, a must for Floridians, who have to know if that trumpet tree is really going to survive the winter in Orlando as compared to Key West. It's also useful if you need to know how to take care of specific items day to day. Roses require a lot of care and you can always check out the Rose calender in the book to see what you should be up to.

It is not a one-stop shop, however. The book doesn't give you an overall calender specifying what you should be doing each month, rather you need to go into each plant section to see what you should be up to in that specific area. In addition, though the lists are wonderful and amazingly long, you don't have pictures or detailed information on the plants, and so can't really make a good decision without going to the nursery and checking it out first-hand. Even then, you're not going to have a clear idea of what that plant is going to look like in three years, the winter, etc.

I would suggest the Florida Gardener's book of lists for those of you who are trying to find specific plants for your yard. The Southern Living series has the best pictures for the eager gardener. This book is good for Florida Gardener's who want to know how to care for specific plants year round, or how to maintain their lawn year round. For the rest of you, I'd suggest looking at some of Tom Macubbin's other books or the ones I mentioned above. Tom is a local Central Floridian, and really knows his stuff.

Recommended for advanced Florida gardeners who want to get down to the details of the daily care they need to put into specific areas of their garden.

Rating:
Summary: A useful companion reference
Review: While missing the colorful photos of many gardening books, this book is a valuable reference guide to use as a companion resource. The list of plants, attributes, dimensions, bloom season, planting time etc... in each section is a quick cheat-sheet when selecting plants. The authors also distinguish between the different conditions in North, Central and South Florida. The only drawback is the reference to plants only by common name without the latin name. Since a plant may be referred to by different common names, not knowing the latin name may leave you wondering, or unable to locate an interesting plant.

Rating:
Summary: A useful companion reference
Review: While missing the colorful photos of many gardening books, this book is a valuable reference guide to use as a companion resource. The list of plants, attributes, dimensions, bloom season, planting time etc... in each section is a quick cheat-sheet when selecting plants. The authors also distinguish between the different conditions in North, Central and South Florida. The only drawback is the reference to plants only by common name without the latin name. Since a plant may be referred to by different common names, not knowing the latin name may leave you wondering, or unable to locate an interesting plant.