Rating: 
Summary: Good Garden Reference
Review: I am a new gardener in the process of relandscaping my front yard. I want a large variety of plants for this shady area, so I bought this book. I found the Plant Selection Guide section very helpful in finding plants for specific areas or conditions, like shade. The Encyclopedia section is good for identifying plants & lists many varieties for each.Some drawbacks are that it doesn't always give specifics on care & pruning, or the hardiness of the plants, important in areas with frost. It also gives just a drawing of the plants, not always helpful for plants I know nothing about. I have found Sunset's "Gardening with Shade" a good supplement to this book. However, the "Western Garden Book" has been an invaluable resource for this first-timer.
Rating:
Summary: Good Garden Reference
Review: I am a new gardener in the process of relandscaping my front yard. I want a large variety of plants for this shady area, so I bought this book. I found the Plant Selection Guide section very helpful in finding plants for specific areas or conditions, like shade. The Encyclopedia section is good for identifying plants & lists many varieties for each. Some drawbacks are that it doesn't always give specifics on care & pruning, or the hardiness of the plants, important in areas with frost. It also gives just a drawing of the plants, not always helpful for plants I know nothing about. I have found Sunset's "Gardening with Shade" a good supplement to this book. However, the "Western Garden Book" has been an invaluable resource for this first-timer.
Rating: 
Summary: Kill Your Lawn - Part 3
Review: I live in Zone 23 of the Sunset Western Garden Book. In my zone, a nice looking lawn takes a lot of water. I suspect that's why most of the lawns in my area look mediocre. I feel the pain of my neighbors. It's not that they're lazy, it's just that they want to conserve water. I say to them...KILL YOUR LAWN!! I did and I get hours of enjoyment working in the resulting cactus garden. A copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book is a requirement for anyone putting together a garden in the west, especially if you intend to kill your lawn. Using the book is easy. First you find your zone. Once you've found your zone, you can find plants to fit any situation you encounter in your own yard. The details in the book allow you to fine tune your garden for areas of shade and sunshine. The book will give you alternatives to plants you might want, but that don't grow well in your zone. In my case, if it needs a lot of water, it's gone. The advantage to this book is the use of 24 zones. This is a finer zoning than the USDA zones used by many garden books. I think I'll go out and plant another cactus and I suggest that you go out and get your own copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book.
Rating:
Summary: Kill Your Lawn - Part 3
Review: I live in Zone 23 of the Sunset Western Garden Book. In my zone, a nice looking lawn takes a lot of water. I suspect that's why most of the lawns in my area look mediocre. I feel the pain of my neighbors. It's not that they're lazy, it's just that they want to conserve water. I say to them...KILL YOUR LAWN!! I did and I get hours of enjoyment working in the resulting cactus garden. A copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book is a requirement for anyone putting together a garden in the west, especially if you intend to kill your lawn. Using the book is easy. First you find your zone. Once you've found your zone, you can find plants to fit any situation you encounter in your own yard. The details in the book allow you to fine tune your garden for areas of shade and sunshine. The book will give you alternatives to plants you might want, but that don't grow well in your zone. In my case, if it needs a lot of water, it's gone. The advantage to this book is the use of 24 zones. This is a finer zoning than the USDA zones used by many garden books. I think I'll go out and plant another cactus and I suggest that you go out and get your own copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book.
Rating:
Summary: A great reference for northwest gardening
Review: I purchased this book after browsing around in a local store, and it turned out to be a great purchase. I'm a beginning gardener, and I wanted something that would not only explain the basics to me, but help me out with more advanced decisions. The beginning is a breakdown of Sunset's climate zones, with wonderful maps showing just where you stand when it comes to the growing season. Then there is a section that helps you find a plant by certain categories such as fragrant blooms, decorative ivy, blossoms by season, and even such obscure classes as arid, windy, and humid climates. The meat of the book consists of an encyclopedia of sorts, with hundreds of entries for different plants that grow in the west, complete with scientific names, growing habits, and helpful hints. The last portion of the book is a quick reference for everything from watering styles to proper composting techniques. I recommend this book to anyone, beginner to advanced.
Rating:
Summary: Big help for a new gardener
Review: I'm a first-time gardener, and I just bought a house in California. I had no idea what sort of plants I could grow in my garden, but this book has been an invaluable resource, giving me info specific to my gardening zone (which is tiny due to southern Cal's microclimates). The plant list is exhaustive, as well. I find the best way to use the book is to go to my local nursery, find plants I like, then refer to the book to find out where they can be planted, and how drought-tolerant they are. Though, I also finding myself taking the book to bed and just reading about each plant alphabetically. It's so interesting, I'm already up to "M", and that's taken hours! The one drawback is that the book goes into detail about what each plant looks like, and some of its habits, but very little detail on the specific care necessary - like when to plant, when to prune, how much maintenance it needs overall, etc. If you live in southern California, I recommend "Pat Welsh's Southern California Gardening : A Month-By-Month Guide" as an addendum.
Rating:
Summary: An invaluable resource for the western gardener...
Review: I've been a user of the Western Garden Book for years, and at this point, consider it a "can't do without it" member of my library. While this book offers a range of information, the bulk of it is made-up of reference information on western-friendly plants, alphabetized by botanical name. Whether you're new to gardening or a seasoned expert, being able to look-up the climatic compatibility, care and feeding of the plants at the local nursery goes a long way toward success in the garden. It is particularly valuable if you tend to buy your plants at large home improvement chain stores, who frequently stock plants that are inappropriate for the local climate, or claim to be perennial, but can only be grown as annual in a harsh winter area, for example. Getting the straight truth from this independent resource instead of believing the questionable advice of an inexperienced clerk or the easy-sounding directions of a plant tag makes the book well worth the asking price. If you're planting a new garden, other sections of the book offer advice on plant compatibility, or choosing plants for particular environmental conditions. This later edition sports new color plant illustrations (an improvement over the two-color renderings in previous editions), along with even more plant reference entries. Having owned two editions in soft cover and this new one in hardback, I would suggest the latter. If you end-up using this book as much as I do, you'll want the extra wearability that the hard cover offers.
Rating:
Summary: Long time professional gardener
Review: This book is found in almost every nursery and garden shop as a reference guide. It is one of the best books for finding what plant to put where. New species come out every year and it is difficult to keep up. This book really helps.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference
Review: This is a great book for western gardeners. The contents are tailored for our region. The encyclopedia is comprehensive. I have yet to fail to locate a plant species of interest. The rest of the book provides good general guidance on gardening, including ways to conserve water and avoid pestiside use.
Rating:
Summary: Great Reference
Review: Very good short descriptions with genus and species listed. Thorough and informative. It is helpful for the novice and experienced gardener alike. Plant pictures are not photographs, but are realistic graphic depictions. Textural descriptions are very good in identification. I recommend this to all gardeners in my retail setting.
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