Thanks IB! I'm trying to keep the perspective you mention in mind. Your words of encouragement were very much appreciated! :) I do think the books were used as a reference. That's what I'm wondering about--is there a better reference book out there? There is a PA Flora database Website run by U Penn., which references all the natives, and also MBOT has a Web database for a lot of commercially used plants. When I'm "out in the field" identifying plants, I tend to use wild plant field guides and I can usually identify a "domesticated" plant because I know its wild cousin. Some of them I just know because I am a plant weenie. Anyway, it's hard to know what book is best since these days I mostly find what I'm looking for online. So many universities have plant databases, and also USDA and the cooperative extension services have put out a lot of material. But nothing beats a good, comprehensive field guide for helping orient a newbie to the ins and outs of plant ID, such as it is. The way things are going with proprietary ways of plant breeding though, who knows what the future will bring! Anyway, I learned plant ID scientifically--by learning descriptive terms and the key characteristics of the families. The instructors taught natural history too. Is this the same approach used in landscaping education? The previous instructor organized the class by what she knew, which was somewhat similar to my knowledge base. I always approach a garden like a mini-ecosystem, at least for starters. I think I may pay a visit to some friends of mine who run a native plant nursery. They have a good little library and I have often gone to them with questions about plants. I have taught botany before, but it was "Field Botany for Educators" and I taught a mix of "wildflowers," trees, shrubs, and grasses. I have my favorite field guides for those kinds of plants, but I'm not going to suggest that my students buy all those! Anyway, I'm not familiar with what are the great "domesticated" plant encyclopedias. You know, like for trees, a lot of people swear by Michael Dirr's guides, for Birds folks love Roger Tory Peterson, etc.

The other thing you can do is utilise the public library system. If your local library doesn't have a book on hand, there is interlibrary loan - they can get it for you from wherever it is in stock - it might take a couple of weeks, but... If you really like a book, then you can buy it. Another option might be asking around to see if there are any local organic gardeners/producers - try the local Farmers Market or health food store for names and contact info - and see if they would be willing to let you pick their brains for a listing of good books. If you offered to help out with any necessary chores - weeding, etc. - then you might get a good response. While some of their books might be oriented towards a larger scale than you want, the principles would be the same. IOf there is a local source for organic fertilisers then they would possibly be able to help, both with other organic gardeners and with a list of good books - just be careful they DO know something, and aren't just rying to sell the most-heavily-stocked-book! That said you might try anything by Elliot Coleman - even though he is in Maine, the principles are the same. However, finding local sources, or at least southern sources, would make the extrapolations and adjustments a LOT easier. Depending on where you got the book from, and if you beat it up while reading it, you might be able to return it. I have often returned books to Waldenbooks or B & N, simply saying that they weren't what I wanted. If you don't have the receipt, you'll probably get a store credit.

go to the library. Its a very popular book, I'm sure you can order it if your local branch doesn't have it. I quit buying gardening books - ran out of space. I can synop-size Tracy's book for you: *Cut everything back before June 30th. *Compost and mulch your plants after they start poking out of the ground. There are individual plants that need to wait on clean up till early spring like baptisia, sedum, Buddleia, hardy mums, penstemons. Basically things that could get water in the crowns and rot. * Wait to cut back lavenders till they begin to leaf out * prune azaleas, rhodos and lilacs immediately after flowering to avoid cutting off next years buds. * She hates mushy spent daylily flowers - you must snap them off. * Kill slugs with Sluggo or vinegar or ammonia Its a great book - check eBay also.

I feel as if I'm making a confession to you all. I always loved gardens but my folks never had much money or knew anything about plants so we had the ugliest, deadest yard on the block. I always hated that. My Dads mom had a beautiful garden and my moms mom grew a few rose bushes and a big loquat tree and my moms dad grew strawberries and tomatoes. My folks bought a house with clay soil and made a half hearted attempt at planting some unsuitable shrubs then promptly gave up. Everything died but the couple of pines and the Italian cypresses. My dad's folks garden was the magic place and I adored it. I always loved the prettiest yards on the street and I would stop and look at all the different plants on the way home from school. In particular I was in love with a Japanese couple's dicondra lawn surrounded by maples and bamboo and clipped things. They were out there almost every night working on it together. I can still remember them on their hands and knees pulling little weeds from the dicondra and talking to each other in Japanese. The azaleas were so beautiful and there must have been so many other treasures that I can't recall now. In my mind it was the best a garden could ever get. So then the years went by and I got a copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book in high school and I read that book over and over and learned the latin names and began to really look at plants in a new way. I got an understanding of plants and what they like and that different plants want different things and that it isn't just magic that some people have and some don't. I started making an herb garden out in the no mans land of the front yard. Then I started growing annual flowers from seeds and working them in all the while waging war with bermuda grass that threatened to ruin all my progress. I planted seeds mostly because I was spending all my money to go to college but sometimes I splurged and bought fuschias and any other flowers that hummingbirds liked. I soon had a big fuschia collection going in the back under dads big pine tree that managed to survive the early years. I hated my job in the women's clothes section of a department store so I found another one at a local nursery run by a Japanese couple and their son. This couple was so good to me and the hours I spent sitting by Sumi learning about flowers and just being in her gentle presence changed the way I looked at the world and about flowers. She had a great wisdom and kindness. I don't think I'll ever know such a graceful and gentle person like that ever again. Sumi's brother Ken was there too and he was a wonderful man with a gentle way and great sense of humor. I wish I could go back and tell them how much I appreciate all the kindness they gave to me. I loved them and I loved the nursery and every plant in the place. I just wanted it all to grow well and for everyone who got a plant to be happy. I listened to all the growers and customers and I read everything I could read. Then came my friend Robert who knew everything about plants and loved roses. After a trip to his garden I wanted to grow roses. I thought I didn't know much after meeting Robert, but he was also very kind and wise and didn't mind my inexperience. He was also a great enabler and got me started buying roses from RoY&T. That catalog was like candy to us and we talked about it on lunch and while we were planting up flower baskets for holidays. When bare root rose season came around, Robert was always so happy. We loved getting into the big boxes of bareroots when they would arrive. After a while, I thought my humble herb patch was nothing special and started expanding. I left them all to go to the University and then I got a job at Disneyland Entertainment that ate my life. I spent many many hours during and after hours in the park and got to watch all the plantings and talk to the people in charge of landscape for the parks and the hotel complex. All that time, my garden saw me through tough times and I faithfully got up to water it before dawn when I had to go to work early or get to school and study. All along the way I met people who loved plants and I took cuttings and collected seeds to grow in my own garden. My grandma stood by me all the way, encouraging me. I loved Lord of the Rings too and Narnia. I remember when my sister and I were young and went camping in Colorado. We walked out into a meadow and I said " If I see the tents of Narnia, I'm just going to keep going" and she agreed with me that we wouldn't go back. I try to put a bit of fairyland in the yard for kids that come by and for myself to remind me of the old days.