Rodale's Flower Garden Problem Solver: Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Roses

Rating:
Summary: Solving flower garden problems organically
Review: If you consider yourself an organic gardener, this book is for you. There are three main sections to the book. The first part lists specific plants and is divided into chapters for annuals, perennials, bulbs and roses. Each flower has the following information: description, ideal environments, propagation, general care, most common insect pests and most common diseases. This is the part of the book I've found most helpful when there's a problem with a plant. Just look up the plant and locate the problem signs and the book gives suggestions on how to solve the problem organically. The second section has three chapters; Insects, Diseases and Animal Pests. Here pests are described, and information is given as to most obvious symptoms, best control strategies, monitoring, preventing damage and plants affected. The last section is a chapter on gardening basics. There are two things I don't like about this book. As many pests affect more than one type of plant, there is a lot of repeated information. A much greater variety of plants could be included if, when listing the symptoms, the author referred you to the pest section for problem solving. The second is that it would be nice to have pictures instead of line drawings to make identification easier. Overall, I enjoy this book and refer to it frequently to solve garden problems.