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Taylor's Guide to Gardening in the South (Taylor's Guides to Gardening)

Taylor's Guide to Gardening in the South (Taylor's Guides to Gardening)

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Taylor's Guide to Gardening in the South
Review: Online Review: Taylor's Guide to Gardening in the South, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. Reviewed by Russell Lipp on 4/17/2000. Email rlipp@compuserve.com.

This 391 page illustrated guide to gardening in the southeastern part of the United States is an excellent value. There are 145 pages of color plates. Overall, what makes this guide appealing are the following points: - The guide is laid out in a logical sequence for both experienced and new gardeners. - All the basic gardening ideas and steps are clearly explained. - The color plates provide botanic and common names, plant height, unique characteristics, best growing region and reference pages to detail information. - The guide's price is lower than other regional gardening books. - There is a very good index, as well as several appendices that include a list of public gardens and their addresses, seed and plant sources and references.

This guide is not meant to be a thoroughly complete treatise for all southern gardening. As such, it is weak on the following points: - It does not cover annual flowers (and thereby saves considerable bulk). - Some of the color plates have photographs taken from a distance so that close-up details cannot be seen. - Some of the specie lists are incomplete, such as the Hosta plant. While the text mentions there are 25 Hosta species, only 5 are described.

There are 16 gardening books in the Taylor's Guide series. Eight authors contributed to this guide. The book cover states that this book provides a "guide to the best plants specifically selected for the region". The primary emphasis is to describe those plants that do well in each of the southeast regions of the country. This guide succeeds very well in this respect.

It is very important to read this book from the beginning, and not to skip portions or start in the middle. Earlier sections provide the basic information for succeeding sections. For example, the section on Garden Design is dependent on and builds on the earlier information provided for the regions and their climatic differences.

All of the "advice" information is contained in the front of the guide. This includes Regional maps, Garden Design, Old Standbys and Favorites, Native Plants, Southern Lawns and the Gardening Year. These sections are followed by the color plates. The last major part is the Plant Encyclopedia. The color plates and Plant Encyclopedia are cross-referenced for ease of lookup.

An experienced gardener might want to take more time to read the Old Standbys and Regional Favorites section, and take less time reading the Garden Design section. While there is useful information for all levels of gardeners, any book on gardening can go just so far. There is still the need to visit local nurseries and gardens to talk with experts about their plants. This "local" advice will supplement this guide, and provide answers to most of your questions.

I enjoyed reading and reviewing this book, and can strongly recommend it to anyone interested in gardening in the south.


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