"Super Simple Guide for Hawaiian Gardens"

[tada]

I saw this book at the library. must be the best book on eastside gardening. For one thing what other one is there? Is it worth it to book a visit to Hiiaka Botanical?

http://hiiakas.com/buy-our-book.asp

[janeadams]

Tada,

Great topic! We enjoyed Barabara's talk to our vireya group a few years ago.

One of our favorite books on native plants is Growing Hawai'i's Native Plants by Kerin E. Lilleeng-Roseberger. Lots of good info and clearly written. Also recently picked up a good one at the Amy Greenwell -- Amy Greenwell Garden Ethnobotanical Guide to native Hawaiian Plant & Polynesian-Introduced Plants by Noa kekuewa Lincoln.

That said, no one book tells it all, and we've got probably a full shelf of books about gardening in Hawai'i and the tropics. Mushrooms, ferns, bamboo, native plants, medicinals, lei, tropical ornamentals, etc...

Jane Adams
White Cloud Nursery

[tada]

Thanks Jane! Of course any book is one person's POV but Barbara seems to like pigweed so I might be the only one to screen my pigweed from flying veggie predators. the one criticism I thought of is I still can't ID plants on the roadside from the line drawings might have to pick up on other sources too.

[Radiopeg]

Does anyone know if there is a dichotomous key to Hawaiian plant identification, something that at least gets plants down to a family, if not the species? I took quite a few classes in CA that used various keys like that, and it was fun, and often successful in achieving identification.

[Mitzi M]

That would be the Manual of Flowering Plants of Hawai'i - Wagner, Herbst and Sohmer.

2 volumes, not cheap - but its pretty much the holy grail of Hawaiian plants (flowering ones at least). It contains keys for the super serious, but also illustrations and descriptions which are helpful for the very interested lay person.

Seems like I look something up in these volumes at least maybe once a week. If you're a plant nerd, like me, and/or if you've fallen hopelessly under the spell of the beautiful plants of the these islands (also like me) go buy these books - you won't regret it.

[Radiopeg]

Thanks Mitzi, I'll have to get that one. I settled for a general guide I got on Amazon.com. I know so little of what I see that having anything to start will be good thing for me.

[Radiopeg]

Wow, Mitzi, priced right out of my budget. But looks like a good resource.