Teri Dunn Chace

Chapter 2, Combat Thy Enemy, offers a very thoughtful discussion of options, including cautionary, though not extensive information about many of the main herbicides available, and the safest, least broadcast method of application. The thrust of the book seems to be offering alternatives to the chemical solution. Each plant species has a page, and each one offers 'less-toxic controls' and 'chemical controls' and many times there is "None recommended." in the second category. When a chemical is recommended it is suggested at a particular plant life stage to make the control most effective, and includes mechanical reductions and then spot chemical treatments.

There are a couple of things that bothered me. The first disposal option was to put gathered materials into the municipal landfill. Chace does suggest sealing and allowing the materials to cook down first, but this doesn't address the environmentally acute issue of volume of landfill trash which results. And then some yard waste is municipally composted, so again, it becomes someone else's problem.

Second, while mentioning that some of these invasives are mainly agricultural problems, the approach seems to address only the suburban landscape.

The list in the book is extensive, catagorized by logical groupings. The photographs are good and adequate, particularly the various grasses, and there is always a recommended non-invasive alternative.

I suppose the definition of weed depends on the gardener. There were many on the list that I welcome in my low maintenance yard. Let them grow and prosper!… (mehr)

The book should win a readability award. It is laid out with style and panache. There is great use of color, fonts, shadings, pagination, background and spacing. The first 130 pages are a textual pleasure, and the rest is of course, profiles of the plants themselves. For once, (most of) the photos are clear, detailed and helpful, unlike so many other plant and bird books, where drawings add heat but no light to your research.

I learned that one woman’s weed is another woman’s flower. Invasive plants included here are often garden treasures. My mother’s favorite flower, Lilly of the Valley surprised me by showing up. Turns out to be tougher than she thought, and potentially poisonous to boot. Similarly the lovely Lantana, in all its glorious varieties, is considered an invasive pest. Same for ice plant, which carpets southern California highway borders and medians in a riot of obnoxious colors every spring – bad! Who knew?

But that’s why you buy the book.

The book is intuitively divided into sections by type/size of plant, from flowers to trees, and each plant is described under the same subheadings –apples to apples as it were. After the botanic description, the subheadings are:

Problem
Reproduction
Origin
Notes
Non invasive alternatives
Less toxic controls
Chemical controls

This however, develops into a weakness, as there are only so many ways you can say a plant crowds out the competition, and how digging might not be the final solution. Still, this is a fine encyclopedia of invasive plants, and everyone should know the extent of the problem.… (mehr)

If you are planting your first garden or perhaps have just had your first garden disaster, this is the book to find out where things went wrong. As much as I would like to stick a few plants in the ground, scatter some seeds, and come back to a bountiful garden, it doesn’t work that way. There are planting times, weeds, pests, and a variety of problems that can occur.

The Anxious Gardener’s Book of Answers is written question and answer style with topics covering most of the important aspects of good garden care. The book covers proper planting times and depths, soil, weed control, fertilizer, pests, different plant types, and much more.

Most topics contain information on what can go wrong, the right way to do it, and if it can be fixed if a mistake is made. This book is more for beginners because there is just basic information on each subject, but it is certainly enough to get started and a great quick reference guide if you are not sure about something that has gone wrong.… (mehr)