Easy Gardens for the South Paperback – January 25, 2009

Great help for starting a new garden or for finding something to replace plants that aren't performing well. The book divides plants by their ease of care, giving blue ribbons to the easiest to grow and suggesting companion plants for each. This is a perfect beginner gardener's "go to" reference for Southeastern zones, but also good for the more experienced garden who wants a fast "jog of the memory." It lists plants by their common names, has good color photos, describes form and size & lists plant requirements. "Easy Gardens for the South" is an excellent mainstay for the home gardener's shelf. I found some errors in index/page numbers, and plant variety is somewhat limited (limited mainly to the easier plants), but it is a great book to flip through for planting ideas, and even to carry with you to garden centers looking for the most "reliable" plants.

I am a neophyte gardener and have struggled with how to consolidate the wealth of information that is out there with my objectives, which include, but are not limited to, gardening for birds, long blooming season and low maintenance. This book pulls it all together for me and more! I find that it provides guidance but allows me the flexibility to be creative as well. I have used it to create garden plans, and after I make my shopping lists, I carry this book with me to my gardening center to make sure that I am buying the right plants, or to help me choose an alternative if the plant I want is not available. If you live in the south and you love to garden, this book is a must-have. I'm going to buy several more copies as gifts.

Suggested by Master Gardeners program class as a ‘must have’ for my area.

The book was advertised as "Used-Very good" but it looks BRAND NEW! Delivered earlier than expected. Excellent service! Thank you for this wonderful book at a fantastic price! I am an avid gardener and first saw this book in a library. After checking it out three times, I decided it was one gardening book I missed when I didn't have it around me. It's a truly beautiful book. Well written. Well organized. Exceptional photography. I recommend it to every one who enjoys flower gardening!

This very friendly gardening guide is perfect for our region - metro Atlanta. I used this book as my go-to "bible" for planning and installing our landscaping and I've purchased multiple copies as gifts for friends who moved into new homes.

This should be a go-to book for any person buying plants in the South. It highlights plants that thrive on rainwater and require less than 5 minutes maintenance per year; specifies which plants attract pollinators/butterflies/birds and which are deer resistant; and suggests pairings of plants that require similar light/water resources. Great photographs & written descriptions.

I love this "Easy Garden book of the south" and how simple and informative it is about what plants are easy and whether they are annuals are parental or durable. Great for new gardeners.

This book would have been more accurately titled "Easy Plants for the South." Because of the title I was expecting to see whole gardens together, and this book doesn't have any. Nevertheless, if you live (and garden) in the hot humid south, you should have this book. It was worth the cost to me for adding new plants to my list of things to try. I was familiar with many of the recommended selections and the author is right on the money about all of the plants on her list I have tried. While the plants had beautiful clear photos and good companion plants, I wished there had been more pictures of whole gardens together. Good book though, I am glad I bought it and will take it with me on my next trip to the nursery.Review update- I have used the heck out of this book- it is definately one of the most useful on my bookshelf- I was planning on upgrading this to 5 stars, the only reason I'm not is this book is EXTREMELY poorly edited. There are lots of cross referenced pages that don't match (it says in several places that the profile for Japanese Kerria is on page 120 and it is actually on page 100), and Hydrangea was listed as having a red ribbon in one place and a blue ribbon in others- also it doesn't always tell WHY plants didn't get a ribbon. It skimps on information such as plants that are annual in the cooler zones and perrenial in the warmer zones (like nearly all lantanas). And Naked Ladies do NOT bloom in lower zone 8 unless there is a cold winter.But for sheer convenience and usefulness of information, you can't beat this book- it tells you at a glance whether or not deer eat it, how long it blooms, water and light requirements- its really really helpful.