BOOK REPORT - taming wildflowers

Taming Wildflowers is a book I bought after reading a review by Donna at A Garden's Eye View.  

 
What was a grand book for her is one that leaves me wanting more.

The biggest fault for me is that Miriam Goldberger has not included any details on zones. She has made room for light, soil, germination and moisture, but not zone. She has even made room for how long cut flowers will last in a vase, which feels like putting the cart before the horse if one does not know what one can grow.  I do not want to use this book as a starting point for further research on every appealing plant - I want all the information I need in one place.

Zone is right at the top of my list for deciding if I have the time to read further; I do not have time for fantasizing about growing plants hardy to zone 7 (though I can be easily seduced by a handsome zone 4).

Zone 5 Crocosmia in my zone 3 garden

In addition, the final 30 pages or so faltered for me due to personal taste. Donna tried to warn me by saying "The last two chapters deal with how to harvest, use and design floral arrangements with wildflowers.  She even includes some wedding ideas.", and yet I was still disappointed to have so much space dedicated to topics that do not rank in my personal 'top 100 things to learn in the garden'.

Instead, my increasing interest in natural gardens, brought on in large part by my Ontario lakefront cottage landscaping, drove me to think that any book on the subject of wildflowers would be a sure-thing.

With that said, I am happy to leave this book behind at my cottage where it will play the important role of signaling to our renters that the Daisies, Periwinkle, Ferns, Aquilegia, Aster, Cranesbill, Iris, Loosestrife, Lily-of-the-Valley, Daylily, and Rudbeckias that may look casually placed are in fact quite purposeful. 

Even a quick flip through its plentiful pages of beautiful photos is enough to raise the readers appreciation for the natural beauty surrounding our cottage, and really what more could I hope for from a coffee table book?

I suppose I had just been hoping for more of a text book.

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Sharing with Garden Tuesday, Green Thumb Thursday & Fishtail Cottage Garden Party