Flowers and Herbs of Early America

by Lawrence Griffith, Barbara Temple Lombardi (Photographer)

It's a great book for gardeners...& a great read for people who wants to know about the different kinds of flowers & herbs that grows here in America!

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference, History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2008

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an immersive delight. I was stopped in my tracks by the Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella) flower on the cover, and it only got better as I went along. The photos here by Barbara Lombardi of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation are just a feast artistically as well as useful for practical purposes of flower identification and education. 58 types of flowers are featured in this book, ones that were commonly used in America’s colonial gardens. All of the photos are in color and many are full length. I also liked that each flower has several photos from different angles, variations, and colors. I don’t buy many books due to a lack of space, but this one I would consider.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flowers and Herbs of Early America by Lawrence Griffith (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 2008) (635.90973) is a beautifully photographed book highlighting the various flowering plants which were available to Colonial American gardeners. Rather than exhaustively cataloging all of the flowers and herbs known at the time, the author spotlights a hundred a number of his favorite plants which he has grown on the grounds of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 8/14/13.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book related to the restoration of the gardens at Colonial Williamsburg.

Includes some of my favorites such as nasturtium, anise hyssop, and borage.

Also includes many that I had never heard of before such as pilewort and devil's claw.

I have been pulling all-heal and motherwort out as weeds, but maybe I should stop, given their historical association.