Wildflowers of New England (A Timber Press Field Guide)

I figured a book with photos and associated with the NEWS would be a gem, but sadly, it is not. The photos are small and often not all that distinctive. There's only one photo per plant, often not showing the leaves or, alternatively, not providing a closeup of the flower. I live in central New England, and the first 2 common flowers I've attempted to identify this spring were not in the book. I finally ID'd them by doing an online search. Once I found their Latin names, I looked them up in this book's index -- and they were not there. But they are in my trusty 1968 volume of Peterson's Field Guide to Wildflowers, which remains my best book for wildflower ID because the illustrations point out finer details to help one differentiate among similar looking plants. Sometimes the oldies are the real goodies.

Disappointing. Compared to some other wildflower guides for the Northeast, such as Peterson's or Newcomb's, I believe that this one would be quite difficult for many people. Guides that use line drawings are often much more helpful in pointing out the key features needed for field identification; this one relies entirely on photographs which are small and often somewhat blurry. The number of species covered is extensive; for example there are around 30 species of goldenrods shown, but there is little attempt to point out which ones are most common and likely to be found. The author attempts to put similar shaped flowers together on a page, which results in some bizarre groupings, with unrelated plants that are clearly unlike in size, habitat and time of flowering placed next to each other on a page. I mainly found this guide interesting because it has new family names and groups recently created by genetic analysis.

Very helpful. Lovely full color images, and organized in a wonderfully logical fashion. The front and back of the book clarify different ways of identifying plants, and each individual entry makes note of specific details that help distinguish it from similar plants. There is usually one image per plant, but some have and extra image of a detail such as a close-up of the leaves of the plant, in order to better aid accurate identification. The entries also make note of where the plant likes to grow, and what time of year it blooms. Along with information such as plant height, leaf length, leaf arrangement, flower type and petal numbers, and other qualities such as those.I actually bought this book for my Intro to Plant Biology class, and it is so nice I am happy to keep it. Instantly it helped me find the name for a few plants I was searching forever for the name of on the internet. Through web searches I had great difficulty finding one plant's name, and never found the other one, but this book allowed for easy identification, so it made me wish i had it sooner. It made me wish I had this sooner, because now I can tell people the name of my two favorite plants. This book also helps teach you the language so that I can know how to describe a plant in an important way later, should I need to.Really love this book, totally recommend it to any flower enthusiast. It is also fun going around and identifying and teaching my little cousins the different types of flowers in our yards with the help of this book :)

A comprehensive reference for wildflower enthusiasts who have a good grounding in plant species. Useful as a secondary reference once you are reasonably sure of the plant identification. Photos are average. Organization by color, flower type, leaf arrangement is helpful. Good key to wildflowers, with explanation. Binding is better than paperback, but mine is already compromised at the corners. Index requires you know the scientific name of a plant or its specific common name to find the right page ex. Yellow loosestrife or Lysimachia terretris. No general heading for loosestrifes.

3 species per page. It is a true field guide with many species. Certainly, it is not perfect to include more photos of the whole plants or leaves. Overall, I recommend this book!

If, like us, you are working on pollinator gardens, this book is an excellent resource for those which are available in New England as an ID guide and for use in the garden. Vermont plants are covered.

Great photos & lots of interesting info on each bird.

Love the book, glossy photos and spelled out information. Unfortunately just after getting this we're moving to the PNW! Ack!

The pro is it's fairly comprehensive, well organized to making finding species straightforward, and this is the first maker of a field guide of this type wise enough to put it on Kindle that I've seen. I love Kindle field guides. I can keep a dozen on my on tablet when I'm in the woods (which is nearly all the time) and have access to a plethora of information.The con is the photos are neither great nor thorough. Even though I have a Kindle version of the guide and can blow up the images, they are often lacking essential detail. Often when I think I've ID something in the field using this resource, I have to confirm it using imagery from hard copy field guides at home.