Book Review - Armitage's Native Plants

For North American Gardens by Allan M. Armitage

Apr 7, 2009

Armitage's Native Plants for North American Gardens is a treasure trove of information for gardeners wanting to design landscapes with native flowering plants and ferns.

Armitage's Native Plants for North American Gardens 2006 joins with Allan M. Armitage's nine other books that North American gardeners rely upon. Armitage has also produced six CDs and two Internet courses for gardeners. He is a professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, where he teaches, conducts new garden plant research, and oversees the UGA Horticulture Trial Gardens. Armitage divides his book into six sections:

Preface

Here on pages 8 to 13, Armitage outlines his thoughts on cultivating, gardening and landscaping with native North American plants. He defines a native plant as one "that was in what we now call mainland America when the Europeans first arrived…" Armitage also says "This book is not written for extreme native plant enthusiasts." Rather, it is written for those "…who would love to try some native plants but don't know where to start."

Armitage says a great deal in this section about buying and selling native plants, his dislike of theme gardens, on maintaining native plants, and the way "some people equate natives with godliness." He includes cultivars – selections and hybrids – of native parents, saying they are "the gardeners' candy store" and that they "…will only help mainstream gardeners further embrace the world of native plants."

A – Z Genera

This section, the heart of the book, begins with genus Aconitum and two of its species and ends with Zizia and two of its species. In between is the "candy store" of which Armitage writes in the preface. Although fashioned as a plant encyclopedia, Armitage's witty observations about familiar as well as unusual plants shape the usefulness of this section.

He also includes species information such as habitat and hardiness, garden site selection and maintenance, recommended propagation procedures, and name etymology. This encyclopedic section is profusely illustrated with Armitage's own excellent color photographs.

Sources and Resources

This section lists 87 plant nurseries and seed sources, most of which have web sites. Armitage cautions that there are many excellent nurseries without a web presence. Wildflower author Jack Sanders and members of the North American Native Plant Society compiled the list of U. S. state and Canadian provincial native plant societies and national educational societies found here. Internet sites feature a range of topics from wildflower photos, species societies, data and information system links, to the meaning of botanical names. Gardeners wishing to begin a library centered around native North American plants will find a short list of three that Armitage says he regularly used while writing his book.

Useful Lists

Gardeners looking for lists of native plants that fulfill specific needs will go for the dozen that Armitage provides:

Alphabetical Listings of Botanical and Common Names

Two separate indices provide quick and easy ways to look up specific plants that direct readers to page numbers. The botanical name index also lists older synonyms of plant names in parentheses below the newer accepted name.

Book Details

Suite 101 Articles about Native North American Plants

The copyright of the article Book Review - Armitage's Native Plants in Landscaping is owned by Georgene A. Bramlage. Permission to republish Book Review - Armitage's Native Plants in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.