Smartgarden Regional Guide: Southeast

I first borrowed this book from a friend who is a garden designer. After a quick scan I knew I had to have it. It is very well organized for those who have long range visions for what they would like their garden to be. Great for planning purposes, with tons of full color pictures organized into utilitarian catagories to easily find what you need. I believe this book will save me a lot of time, money and aggrevation in my gardening endeavors. I am an organizer, and this book works like my brain does, so it is a great fit.

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for my sister and brother-in-law who live in SC. They are always asking me for gardening advice and since I am not familiar with the flora and fauna there, I thought this book would give them some good basic information. This book includes some good basic knowledge and care for plants. In addition, it lists many plants that are native to the area. This list includes pictures of the plants, their requirements, and in some instances, pruning information. All in all, I thought this book was just what they needed to learn about the plants offered in their location.

This is a gorgeous book overflowing with beautiful color photos and sure to motivate any gardener. The intent is to help gardeners select plants that are compatible with specific growing conditions. It is comprised of three parts: Part 1 features "The Ten SmartGarden Tenets" which includes detailed sections on factors like assessing your site, choosing the best plants, working with nature, managing pests, keeping a garden journal, etc. The bulk of the book is Part 2 which is a plant selection catalog and features plants in every conceivable category (examples are "Drought Tolerant Trees," "Winter Flowering Shrubs," "Shrubs with Gray or Blue Foliage," "Vines for Small Arbors," etc.) Every plant has a photo and basic, general information is designated by a symbol. Part 3 covers gardening techniques with excellent step-by-step photos and directions on selecting plants, planting, pruning and propagation. Appendices includes gardening resources, web sites, horticultural organizations, and botanical gardens and arboreta in the U.S. The only issue I have from giving the book 5 stars is that even though the plant categories are endless, each section contains only about 8 or 10 plants and sometimes that just isn't enough to choose from. Still, the photos along are worth the price - this is a beautifully designed book.

Want a region-specific guide to growing which outlines successful plants and gardening techniques from California to Texas and Oklahoma? The American Horticultural Society doesn't just offer up another routine gardening guide: their Southwest Smart Garden Regional Guide is a complete instructional program in a single volume which teaches gardeners how to create a garden in tune with the environment and local growing conditions, using a coding system assigned to each plant for both hardiness zone and plant size. Packed with color photos on every page, The Southwest Smart Garden Regional Guide is the perfect choice, especially for novice Southwest area gardeners starting their first plot.

South-eastern gardeners won't want to miss the Society's Southeast Smartgarden Regional Guide, a reference to over 3,000 plants which grow well in the Southeast. With literally thousands of color photos accompanied by step-by-step gardening sequences and techniques, this is packed with fine detail.