A practical guide to identifying, obtaining, planting, and maintaining the plants most frequently found along the fringes and sandy shores of the Sunshine State. Complete description of Florida’s beach, dune, and wetland communities and a guide to selection and cultivation of plant species appropriate for each type help gardeners assess the needs of their coastal properties. Plant characteristics, plant availability, planting and maintenance guidelines, commercial sources for vegetation, and suggestions for additional reading provide basic hands-on, how-to information. Forty color photographs and 35 drawings serve as a convenient, user-friendly identification guide for gardeners and beachcombers alike. Florida’s fragile coastal communities are increasingly threatened by erosion—the result of weather, rising sea levels, and human impact on the environment. The editors of this volume explain how plant habitats help protect these areas, functioning as sand or soil traps and stabilizers, providing food and shelter for wildlife, contributing to water-quality maintenance, and beautifying the state.

“A very welcome addition to anyone’s library . . . on the suncoast, from the newcomer to the old timer on the Florida gardening scene.” —Horticulture News

Florida readers and soon-to-be Floridians will welcome this updated version of Defreitas’s popular first guide. New: an easier-to-use format, more plants, more details for the novice, updates on controlling pests and diseases, 200 new photos. Along with the encyclopedic information on every facet of Florida gardening from the first edition.

Mary Jane McSwain, 193 pages, 6 3/8 x 9 1/2, full-color photographs, b&w illustrations,

University Press of Florida

Over the years Florida Landscape Plants has become a standard manual for university students, nurserymen, and homeowners in the Lower South. In this revised edition, there are 50 new plants, the text has been expanded, and there are many fresh, new illustrations. With more than 400 entries, and a new index of family names, this classic is one of Florida’s best gardening manuals.

One look inside the Florida Lawn Handbook and you’ll see it’s the one book you need to have a beautiful Florida lawn. Color plates help you identify all sorts of grass types, weeds, diseases, and insects (some are actually good for your lawn!). This collection of articles on every angle of lawn care was written in a practical style by turfgrass experts, and contains information about selecting turfgrass, establishing it, watering, mowing, preparing for drought, pest management, weed control, insect problems and more. This information takes the mystery out of lawn care, and can turn even an amateur into a confident pro.

Taylor’s guide will help readers recognize and identify wildflowers, not by color or family group, but by where they’re most likely to be found growing—their natural habitat. This first-of-its-kind book gives detailed information on 450 species, arranged by pine flatwoods, sandhills, upland pine forest, scrub, temperate hardwood forest, coastal uplands, subtropical pine forest, and many more.

Because native plants are adapted to their region, gardeners don’t have to resort to expensive and potentially harmful methods to grow them. These plants are spot-lighted here in a lavishly illustrated volume designed to help Southern gardeners create their own beautiful, earth-friendly garden by working with nature—not against it.

                 Florida's Best Native Landscape Plants is an illustrated guide for landscape designers, home gardeners, and restoration professionals. Published in cooperation with the Association of Florida Native Plant Nurseries and the Florida Department of Transportation, it provides technical info