Native Florida Plants: Low Maintenance Landscaping and Gardening

If you are looking for a great guide - detailed plant list with pictures - to Florida native plants (in particular for Central and South Florida - thank you:) then this book is a must-have. Too often books on Florida plants concentrate on the north of Florida, zone 8 will not survive a hot Tampa Bay area summer and is worthless data to me. Where I live, zone 9 and zone 10 have a better chance for survival.This is exactly what I was looking for - not just pretty little flowers for a butterfly garden, those are a dime a dozen and no, I can't do just any milkweed since I live next to a horse farm and milkweed can literally kill a horse.Who knew we have a wild, fragrant azalea? - yes, please, that would be perfect near the back of the property by the ditch where it can sucker all it wants.He describes a Buttonbush which I immediately recognized via the picture as that amazing bush with the cool looking white flowers (they look bigger and so much better in person) that I saw in the wild (nature park nearby) and had been unable to identify - I'm so happy to finally know what it is so I can get one via seed or cuttings as noted in his description in case I can't find one at a nursery.What I also appreciated was that the author does not assume that we live on acres and acres of land, but repeatedly points out smaller trees with a narrow form or those that will work well for a privacy hedge.Useful, detailed descriptions with one pic each (yeah, I know, we all want a close-up and a pic of the plant in the landscape and preferably another with fruit or blooms):.The author does include a second pic for different varieties of the same species on occasion and describes their differences in each description.Going native is becoming popular but that also means there will be cookie-cutter approaches and the nursery will recommend what they have on hand. I noticed one of the native landscapers using pretty much the same plants in every design - mother nature is a lot more diverse than that:).Without this book I have to accept what I'm told, with this book I can make more informed decisions and ask for a specific plant or tree or find it online. I don't mind hunting down a particular plant myself, once you have the Latin name google is your friend.I also liked that he points out the less favorable traits of a plant, such a funky cheese smell or suckers or the good to know things like this is an understory tree, etc.While there are a few design plans sprinkled throughout the book, they are drawings, not a completed project. Basically a plan with a list of suitable plants for instance for a hedge for wildlife. But, not just one tree, but a list of choices for each tree, shrub and flower or grass - which makes it very easy to simply pick your favorites via the pic and a full description in this book.You will not find design ideas or pictures of established gardens in this book.All in all, this is a great reference book if you are thinking of going native and live in Central and South Florida, although there are continuous references to North Florida as well.I'm so pleased to have found this book.

This book was quite pricey but it is nearly useless. The photos are so dark and muddy as to be no help at all. It should never have left the printer like this. Returning immediately.

This is one of several books we bought to help us learn about and come up with ideas for landscaping our new home in south-central coastal Florida. Our yard has several oaks, dozens of palm trees and various shrubs and vines, all of which are rather different than what we had been used to in Connecticut. On the west our lot backs up to a wetlands nature preserve that in turn abuts a lagoon, and the Atlantic Ocean is a few blocks to the east, so we have warm weather year-round with rare frosts. However, this book covers the full range of Florida climate zones, not just our mild Zone 9B.This book is well laid-out with informative text about, and good-sized color photos of, palms, large and small trees, shrubs, vines, wildflowers, grasses and ferns. There are also very helpful sections on climate, water gardens and attracting wildlife. Every item has at least one color photo plus common name, scientific name and a wide range of other information such as size, sun/shade and water requirements, etc.Given the high cost of landscaping, and the challenges of growing and maintaining plants in a semi-tropical climate, buying a few books to help develop ideas about and understanding of the many options is a worthwhile investment. I did not find just one book that covered everything about Florida plants; given our site and our unfamiliarity with its botanical inhabitants, I bought five books which together provided a comprehensive range of information (this book on native/low maintenance plants, one on fruiting plants, one on natural landscaping, one on readily available native plants, and one on landscaping for attracting Florida wildlife).I found this book to be especially helpful regarding native and low-maintenance plants. Invasive plant species are a problem in Florida and just about everywhere else in the US, so learning from this book how to "go native" means we will end up (at least on our property) with few or no invasive species and, most importantly, plants that are already well adapted to this environment.

A must have for any Floridian who wants to learn about native plants and their profiles. Many natives require no watering after being properly established and no additional fertilizer. I have learned and purchased some natives plants to replace exotics with the help of this book, and it has made my gardening a lot easier.One note of advice, this book does not contain wind tolerance on the plant profiles. Most natives do great in storms and hurricanes, but there are some exceptions such as the laurel oak, the mahoe, and water oaks. If this information had been provided, this book would have been absolutely perfect.

The textual information is very good. However, I was very disappointed in the pictures. There are many but the quality is only as good as I can achieve on my own ink jet printer (too dark). These type of pictures should be printed on glossy paper and not standard paper.

While no one book is perfect, this revised edition has a lot going for it. It has interesting chapters on Florida's climate and different plant communities, e.g. seaside, interior sections, etc. Then it gives an excellen t and concise description of plants, e.g. DAHOON HOLLY (Ilex cassine)with a GOOD COLOR PHOTO. I have one in my backyard. It gives all the relevant information in a clear and concise way: height, light, bloom,etc. Habitat was extremely helpful, i.e. usually found near streams and swamps. I started making sure it got more water! It is on my shelf next to "Florida Landscaping Plants Revised Edition" by Watkins and Sheehan, and between the two, I think I can usually find some helpful information.