Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States

Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States is a 2018 book by Tony Dove and Ginger WoolridgeDove, Tony; Woolridge, Ginger (2018). Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. ISBN 978-1-62354-503-1.. Although, as the title implies, it includes information relevant to the entire Eastern US, both authors live in Maryland. It provides exceptionally detailed information on 43 highly recommended native trees and 42 highly recommended native shrubs. Each of these primary trees and shrubs receives two or three pages of text, describing the plant's attributes and cultivation in detail and illustrated with multiple photographs and drawings. 
Additionally, it lists 28 trees and 35 shrubs as "secondary" options: natives that may be desirable but that may be more difficult to cultivate, may have undesirable qualities, or may simply not be as attractive as the species on the primary list. These secondary species are not listed in anything like the same detail as the primary species - each gets about a paragraph explaining the benefits and drawbacks of that species in cultivation - but enough information is provided to allow the gardener to make their own cost-benefit analysis and come to their own decision. 
GardenerBot uses the tables in Essential Native Trees and Shrubs to provide some basic details on the positive attributes of all the primary plants and the drawbacks of the secondary plants. However, the most valuable information in the book is not contained within the data tables but within the body of the text, which cannot be so easily placed in a spreadsheet for our bot to digest. 
Full disclosure: Ginger Woolridge, one of the authors of this book, is also a member of our community. This article was not written by her or in consultation with her.
 
Category:Books