A week or so ago, I opined that folks should stay away from tree
identification books that deal with trees of the world because
they're just too incomplete and deal only with the trees most of
us know anyway.

In my all-too-often visit to one of our local bookstores today,
however, I stumbled across a couple of worldwide tree books that
cause me to amend that to say "stay away from MOST worldwide tree
identification books."

The first (and best) is one I already have -- kinda. It is the
"Botanica's Trees and Shrubs" Laurel Glen pub. $19.95. I say
"kinda" because I have the "Botanica Encyclopedia" which contains
the full text of the tree book and a LOT more (something like
9,000 plants more). The publishers have lifted all info on trees
and shrubs from the encyclopedia and put it in this thick,
handbook-size (except for thickness) book.

Probably, if the tree and shrub book had come out first, I would
have gotten it and not the massive encyclopedia. But I get a lot
of use out of the encyclopedia, so I'm not complaining. Anyway,
the tree and shrub book is very though and very complete. It
includes trees and shrubs no one has heard of, plus all of those
you have heard of and many cultivars of them, too. While taking
the trees and shrubs from the big book was purely a money-making
ploy on the part of the publishers, it's very worthwhile to have
this book.

The other tree book is "Smithsonian Handbooks: Trees" $20 from DK
Publishers. This one is not as complete (but there are a lot of
species from everywhere) and does not cover shrubs like azaleas
and camellias, blueberries, etc. that the other one (above) does,
but it's worth having. I've put it on my list for "someday."

I found a third book -- NOT a tree book -- that is very useful:
"Insect, Disease and Weed ID Guide: Find-It-Fast Organic
Solutions for Your Garden" Rodale pub. $24.95. This too is on my
"someday list" though I have all the
insect-disease/good-bug/bad-bug books I can use already. If you
don't have the Ortho, Sunset or Southern Living Garden Problem
Solver books, this one is an excellent choice.

Still on publishing news, I also looked over Issue #84 of Bonsai
Today and found it to be a decided mixed bag. Some wonderful
new, avert garde pots from the Takagi contest any one of which
I'd love to have, several marvelous Ernie Kuo junipers, and a
4-part, don't-try-this-at-home series of tree "fixups" that only
someone with more time than sense would ever attempt (and all [or
most] of which I bet died within 4-5 years of the massive surgery
involved). I think there was another part that I liked, but
apparently not enough to remember what it was, ;-) or it came
after the fixups and I was too flabbergasted to remember. This
was another of the (lately) growing number of new Bonsai Today
issues that I left on the newsstand. The magazine ain't what it
usta be. :-(IMHO, of course)

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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