I'm really happy I got to read this book. [Wild About Weeds by Jack Wallington]

I'm a plant person, so generally speaking any books about plants are going to spark some joy. My favorite plants books however are the books I come away from, having read, with a stronger foothold on technical knowledge and inspirations and ideas for future projects and endeavors. This was one such book. Wild About Weeds by Jack Wallington is not the first pro-weeds book I've read but it is the first one to posit the idea of purposeful design with them in mind.

The eBook was 89 pages, so it looks like the book's about double that in page length. What I expected was a book that was majorly comprised of pictured fact-sheets about individual plants. What I got was not too far off, fact-sheets divided through chapters by ideal growing conditions. Each chapter highlighted no more than 10 plants, if that.

From the beginning my biggest hangup with the book was that there was no initial statement clarifying the baseline perspective with regard to region and thereby the plants. At the onset the author mentions having traveled around Australasia, North America, and the United Kingdom, but we're left to understand contextually that the fact-sheets for each plant are written with reference to the last-mentioned. As I read I also found myself opening tab after tab in my Chrome browser. The respective fact-sheets for many plants were referenced in book by page number, but other non-weed plants that I was not familiar with were not, and so instead Google became my teacher.

For a casual gardener like myself, not in the industry or not likely to memorize plants by Latin name, this book will best serve as an informative guide, lending design ideas and practical information. As with most plant books outside reference is encouraged and often necessary (e.g., for referencing local laws). Being that most plants were referenced by Latin name and common name use was sparse and near non-existent, I imagine the target audience for this book to be other landscape design and garden industry professionals. Regardless, it was an informative read and I'd love to have a physical copy of the book and even see a more extensive edition with more comprehensive chapters. If you're a plant person, you're sure to love this colorful book.