Book Recommendation: Flowers and Herbs of Early America

Last weekend, I visited the New York Botanical Garden and picked up one of the best books I've found on heirloom plants: Flowers and Herbs of Early America by Lawrence D. Griffith and Photography by Barbara Temple Lombardi. The title speaks for itself and every spare moment I've had over the past week has been spent absorbed in this amazing book. Each flower and herb has four pages to itself, with two pages of inspiring photography and two pages of history, description, and habit. Reading the text, you can tell that the author has actual first-hand experience with these plants.

From the flap jacket: "Drawing on years of archival research and field trials, Colonial Williamsburg curator of plants Lawrence Griffith documents fifty-eight species of flowers and herbs, and explores how they were cultivated and used...It...is an important contribution to our understanding of colonial and Federal plants and an invaluable companion for today's gardeners, who will appreciate the advice of a master gardener on how to plan, choose appropriate species, and maintain a beautiful period garden."