For many plant lovers, winter seems like a lost time. The bursts of color and distinctive leaf shapes disappear, leaving what seems like ambiguous branches. But there is no need for botanical enthusiasts to hunker down until spring. What we overlook as “dead trees” are simply shoots covered up for the season. If we look closer, we’ll see that trees and shrubs have distinct shapes to their buds and twigs that allow them to be classified reliably in winter.

While most books focus on identifying leaves and other seasonal characteristics, this practical guide is one of the few that will allow gardeners to identify trees and shrubs while they are in their dormant state. It covers more than seven hundred species and includes easy-to-use illustrated identification keys. More than 1,400 color images make it even easier to spot the distinctive pieces of these plants.

In this companion volume to the bestselling The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives to Nonnative Flowers and Plants, Charlotte Adelman and Bernard L. Schwartz offer another indispensible guide to replacing nonnative plants with native alternatives. This time, their subject is the native woody species that are the backbone of our gardens and landscapes. Among other ecological benefits, native shrubs and trees provide birds and butterflies with vital food and reproductive sites that nonnative species cannot offer. And they tend to be hardier and easier to maintain. The authors provide a comprehensive selection of native woody alternatives that, season by season, provide effects similar to those of nonnative shrubs and trees used for ornamental purposes and shade. These plants are suitable for all garden styles, provide blooms and fall color, and have the same cultivation requirements as their nonnative counterparts. Nature notes alert readers to the native species’ unique ecological roles. Unlike other gardening guides, Midwestern Native Shrubs and Trees goes beyond mere suggestion to provide gardeners with the tools they need to make informed, thoughtful choices. Knowing which native species to plant for desired effects empowers landscapers and gardeners to take on a greater role in protecting our midwestern environment.

Shrubs and vines, often literally overshadowed by trees, also receive much less attention than their taller neighbors, and yet they are very important elements of the region’s natural landscape. A guide to these interesting and useful plants, this book identifies all 150 shrubs and vines native to Iowa, along with frequently seen naturalized ones. Here you’ll find the widely distributed buttonbush, the distinctive pagoda dogwoods, sumacs with their striking fall foliage, the adaptable ninebark, the attractive grape honeysuckle, the many species of Rubus and wild grapes that provide food for birds and animals, willows with their graceful promise of spring, and the diverse viburnums.

Like trees, shrubs and vines are woody plants that are easy to observe year round. The first part of this book will help you identify them. Illustrated keys take you through the identification process one step at time; these are followed by images and descriptions of all but the rarest species. Noted naturalists Peter van der Linden and Donald Farrar also provide information about each species’ distribution, ecology, and uses. Summer and winter features are covered separately to facilitate identification at these two very different times of year.

Chapters about the culture and natural history of shrubs and vines explain why the plants grow where they do in nature and show how to use them effectively in outdoor spaces. Plants native to Iowa have much to offer to the landscaper: winter hardiness, resistance to drought and climatic extremes, and food and shelter for native wildlife and pollinators. Many natives are ornamental as well, providing attractive flowers, bright autumn displays, and colorful stems or fruits in winter. The authors offer tips for selecting, planting, and caring for these plants effectively. With native plants, you can create a landscape that is sustainable, authentic to place, and satisfying to you.

Iowa and midwestern arborists, conservationists, horticulturists, landscape architects, gardeners, and all those who appreciate the beauty and value of native plants will find Shrubs and Vines of Iowa immensely useful. 

Mozingo presents the life histories of more than sixty species of both common and unusual shrubs, and discusses how shrubs grow, reproduce, and adapt to the extreme weather conditions that are part of daily life in the Great Basin. Drawings by Christine Stetter.

Woody Plants of Western African Forests is an illustrated guide to the identification of 2200 trees, lianes and shrubs found in the forests of West Africa, from Senegal to Ghana. This is all the woody plants and more than 80% of the higher plants in the forests of this region, known to biogeographers as Upper Guinea. This represents 5% of all flowering plant genera in the world—1% of the species — so the book is relevant to anyone interested in tropical plants, especially but not only in the forests of tropical Africa.

Laid out as keys and with short descriptions of each species, it contains over 5,600 photographs, line drawings and maps. And, while many guides only offer hints to naming plants when they are not in flower, here the authors have based identification on leaves, bark, shoots, scent ,taste and other characters easily observed at most times.

Funded by the European Union, through its ECOSYN project (based at Wageningen University), which supports forest biodiversity and management in Upper Guinea, this magnificent, beautiful book is an indispensable reference for everyone committed to the conservation and sustainable development of Africa’s forest.