Medicinal Garden Plants for Canada

by Alison Beck

Traditionally, plants were used to treat and cure whatever ails, from cuts and burns to colds and flu, from stress and insomnia to arthritis and hemorrhoids. Now you can harness nature’s healing power in your garden. In this book, which has been seven years in development, veteran garden writers Alison Beck and A.H. Jackson feature some of the most common and easy-to-grow plants that also have medicinal qualities. Each of the 87 accounts • medicinal properties • historic and contemporary healthful, healing uses • height, spread and hardiness • prominent features such as habit, flower colour and bloom time • planting information, including sun and soil requirements • tips on where and how to include it in your garden • recommended species and varieties • problems and pests • 175 colour photos. By no means a medical resource, this gardening guide is simply that― a how-to for growing medicinal plants.

208 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2015

Reviews

[Marie Louise]

A good compilation and beautiful images but contents are too general. I like it that it includes some indigenous plants to North America. Native plants should be highlighted and clearly differentiated from naturalized, and introduced species. An index of ailments linked to corresponding plants would have been useful. Home preparation of each plant species for specific health issue should be described well. General description of methods at the beginning of the book are insufficient. The legend two maps, frost-free days and hardiness zones are difficult to read - tiny fonts and colour shades/tints that are difficult to differentiate from each other especially, lighter tints in the middle with darker shades on either side. IPM is not well-explained. It is better to omit this term or concept. For medicinal plants, physical control is safe and effective.

[Darryl Bailey]

A great little helpful book