The Garden Book For Wisconsin

Rating:
Summary: Good, But not REAL regional
Review: I heard great things about the book but was a little disappointed. She dedicated only a very small portion of the introduction to the specifics of WI soil conditions, etc. I suspect the rest of the material regarding plant varieties was written on a formula provided by the publisher. (they do these books for a lot of states) Although she does address some WI specific issues for each variety, I thought the coverage was over simplified and I would have loved pictures included with the text. (All of the pictures are less than an inch high and inserted in the center of the book.) It's a nice attempt at a broad set of topics. Maybe it would have been even better with less of a "follow the formula" form.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Garden Book for Wisconsin
Review: The book contains 445 pages, about 30 pages are on general gardening and 30 pages are specific to Wisconsin. Specific information includes a full page color USDA Hardiness Map of Wisconsin with detail showing county borders, Wisconsin frost maps, monthly temperature & precipation data for 27 Wisconsin cities, lists of Wisconsin gardens and societies, and more.

The remaining 385 pages are about selected species. And these pages contain some of the best information that I have ever read in a garden book. If you buy it just for these pages, you will have an excellent reference book no matter where you live.

The species info covers 26 annuals, 15 bulbs, 17 ground covers, 10 ornamental grasses, 28 perennials, 6 roses, 25 shrubs, 30 trees, 3 turf grasses, and 9 vines, with 160 small photos. The info is perfectly arranged with two pages of text per each species. Each contain a paragraph on when to plant, where to plant, how to plant, care, additional info, and other varieties. My kind of book - all the info in one place and easy to find.

If you garden in Wisconsin, this is a must have book!

Unlike all my other garden books, I actual know of every species talked about in this book. The book talks about the plants we grow in Wisconsin. And best, Myers tells us about some popular plants that don't do well here (I wish the plant nursery would have told me this before they sold me many wrong varieties). I learned this by trial and error.

My only criticism about the book is that I wish she had written another volume. Great information!

Rating:
Summary: Good resource
Review: This is one of the books that I refer to often when deciding what to plant in our yard.

Descriptions of the plant, whether it's a native species, and recommendations for certain varieties to look for, are very useful.

Is it a single resource that answers all of your questions? No. But no one book could be, and that's why you choose a few valuable books to provide a range of information.

If you live in Wisconsin, this book should be in your reference collection.