Wild Lilies, Irises, and Grasses : Gardening with California Monocots

Rating:
Summary: A New Classic For California Native Plant Enthusiasts
Review: Over a period of almost 20 years, I've read every new and old book on gardening with California Native Plants. For about the last eight of those years, I've been waiting for someone to come out with a worthwhile new book on the subject. I think my waiting is over.

Gardening With California Monocots is a well-written guide to planting native orchids, irises, grasses and other monocots (plants that germinate with a single seed-leaf). The book explains not only where these plants occur in the wild, but also describes the conditions they require to succeed in your garden. The discussion on garden-worthy bunchgrasses is the most valuable and comprehensive I've ever seen. Even the gurus of california native plant authors, Marjorie Schmidt and Glenn Keator, have never covered the subject so thoroughly.

In addition, Gardening with California Monocots has something which most other books on the subject lack: stunning pen and ink drawings of the plants together with equally-beautiful color plates.

The book has one shortcoming. The authors don't go into enough detail about propogation of each specific plant. I wish the authors had provided specific information for the propogation of each plant discussed - explaining what time of year to gather seeds, take cuttings or make divisions, what medium to use to plant the seeds or cuttings, and how to pretreat the seeds, if necessary. I suspect the authors left this information out purposely to discourage readers from gathering seeds and cuttings from wild, often endangered, populations. Someday I'll find a book which provides all that information. In the meantime, however, Gardening With California Monocots is a must-read for native plant gardeners.

Rating:
Summary: A New Classic For California Native Plant Enthusiasts
Review: Over a period of almost 20 years, I've read every new and old book on gardening with California Native Plants. For about the last eight of those years, I've been waiting for someone to come out with a worthwhile new book on the subject. I think my waiting is over.

Gardening With California Monocots is a well-written guide to planting native orchids, irises, grasses and other monocots (plants that germinate with a single seed-leaf). The book explains not only where these plants occur in the wild, but also describes the conditions they require to succeed in your garden. The discussion on garden-worthy bunchgrasses is the most valuable and comprehensive I've ever seen. Even the gurus of california native plant authors, Marjorie Schmidt and Glenn Keator, have never covered the subject so thoroughly.

In addition, Gardening with California Monocots has something which most other books on the subject lack: stunning pen and ink drawings of the plants together with equally-beautiful color plates.

The book has one shortcoming. The authors don't go into enough detail about propogation of each specific plant. I wish the authors had provided specific information for the propogation of each plant discussed - explaining what time of year to gather seeds, take cuttings or make divisions, what medium to use to plant the seeds or cuttings, and how to pretreat the seeds, if necessary. I suspect the authors left this information out purposely to discourage readers from gathering seeds and cuttings from wild, often endangered, populations. Someday I'll find a book which provides all that information. In the meantime, however, Gardening With California Monocots is a must-read for native plant gardeners.