| | |  | Gardening & Horticulture | Home » » » » Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs (Princeton Field Guides) | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Garden Insects of North America is the most comprehensive and user-friendly guide to the common insects and mites affecting yard and garden plants in North America. In a manner no previous book has come close to achieving, through full-color photos and concise, clear, scientifically accurate text, it describes the vast majority of species associated with shade trees and shrubs, turfgrass, flowers and ornamental plants, vegetables, and fruits--1,420 of them, including crickets, katydids, fruit flies, mealybugs, moths, maggots, borers, aphids, ants, bees, and many, many more. For particularly abundant bugs adept at damaging garden plants, management tips are also included. Covering all of the continental United States and Canada, this is the definitive one-volume resource for amateur gardeners, insect lovers, and professional entomologists alike. To ease identification, the book is organized by plant area affected (e.g., foliage, flowers, stems) and within that, by taxa. Close to a third of the species are primarily leaf chewers, with about the same number of sap suckers. Multiple photos of various life stages and typical plant symptoms are included for key species. The text, on the facing page, provides basic information on host plants, characteristic damage caused to plants, distribution, life history, habits, and, where necessary, how to keep "pests" in check--in short, the essentials to better understanding, appreciating, and tolerating these creatures. Whether managing, studying, or simply observing insects, identification is the first step--and this book is the key. With it in hand, the marvelous microcosm right outside the house finally comes fully into view. - Describes more than 1,400 species--twice as many as in any other field guide
- Full-color photos for most species--more than five times the number in most comparable guides
- Up-to-date pest management tips
- Organized by plant area affected and by taxa for easy identification
- Covers the continental United States and Canada
- Provides species level treatment of all insects and mites important to gardens
- Illustrates all life stages of key garden insects and commonly associated plant injuries
- Concise, clear, scientifically accurate text
- Comprehensive and user-friendly
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Whitney Cranshaw | | Paperback:
| 672 pages | | Publisher:
| Princeton University Press | | Publication Date:
| March 08, 2004 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0691095612 | | Product Length:
| 9.96 inches | | Product Width:
| 7.44 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.56 inches | | Product Weight:
| 4.22 pounds | | Package Length:
| 10.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.5 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.5 inches | | Package Weight:
| 4.15 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 39 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 39 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
97 of 97 found the following review helpful:
The Best Book on Insects for Gardeners and NaturalistsApr 08, 2004
By David B Richman
"Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs" is simply a gem of a book. Illustrated with beautiful color photos, many by the author, this is the ultimate guide to every conceivable insect or other arthropod you might find in your backyard. It also tells you what to expect from each of these creatures (will it eat my rose bushes?)
I first bought a copy for the Arthropod Museum library and then, after using the book for a few days, ordered my own copy. It is well written and authoritative (Whitney Cranshaw is a respected entomologist at Colorado State University) and very well illustrated. Color plates of stinkbugs, scale insects, aphids, beneficial insects etc. give the reader a fantastic overview of the variety of arthropods they can find around their own homes. The price is also very good ($20.00 for a thick book with hundreds of color photos is remarkable today!) and I simply cannot see how anyone interested in gardening or backyard bug watching would not want a copy.
Highly recommended for anyone with a reason to know anything about the numerous six and eight-legged creatures beyond their back door.
47 of 48 found the following review helpful:
The best book available for identifying garden insectsJun 27, 2005
By Debbie Lee Wesselmann
Whether you harbor a fascination for insects or are on a search-and-destroy mission, you will find this enormous identification book a fascinating look at North American insects. Organized by the type of damage the insects inflict (leaf chewers, trunk borers, sap suckers, etc.) this book devotes considerable space to individual insects, discussing such specifics as hosts, damage, distribution, appearance, and habits. Major pests are given more space than the less common. For example, the Colorado Potato Beetle is given nearly a full page while the asparagus miner is described in a short paragraph. The accompanying color photographs are usually helpful, though some could be improved since the visual details aren't always clear.
Especially for organic gardeners, the section on beneficial species is extremely helpful. Since predators are not always identifiable to the novice, the photographs and accompanying text assist in protecting the species that will provide a natural balance in the garden. For example, most people will not recognize the larva form of the lady beetle, the species with a voracious appetite for aphids, adelgids, and other pests, but this guide shows all life stages of it. Other beneficials, including some species of wasps, look as ugly and as destructive as their prey. An appendix cross-references particular plants with their most likely pests, which cuts down the time it takes to identify most species.
Because of both the color photographs, some showing the different life stages of a particular species, and the text, this guide is a wonderful tool for the gardener or budding entomologist.
53 of 62 found the following review helpful:
 Great guide at a great price!Mar 08, 2005
By Michael Picagli
When I first received this book I was very impressed. It's a thick book filled with countless species. Navigating the book was very easy and most of the pictures are excellent, with the exception of a few blurry shots that really pissed me off. The blurry shots should have been replaced before going to print, perhaps they had some issues? Again who knows! But I didn't like it.
The information in the book is well done, and there is plenty for a ID guide such as this. Their is a lack of certain details on insect parts and/or habits, and I am sure the text is not meant as a treatise on each subject. But even the lack of not having documented insect parts I don't think you will have any trouble identifying the insects in this book by the photos alone.
This is a very vast tome of insects! And I find this guide very useful. The book documents leaf and vegetation damage which is very handy. And commonly shows photos of the different life stages of the insects. The price of this book is wonderfully low! A very good low cost guide to common garden insects, literally. And surprisingly they even manage to throw in a very small section on spiders, not even an insect.
(If you want to ID spiders, purchase "Spiders and their kin" from St. Martin's press; see tag at the bottom of this review.)
I prefer this guide over the Audubon guide hands down!
The Peterson's guide may be a good compliment since it's nicely illustrated, but certainly NOT a replacement nor substitute.
I just wish the hardcover version of this book wasn't so expensive in comparison to it's paperback, definitely get the paperback. No matter how much you love hardcover.
A bit about field guides:
I am an avid fan of both photo and illustrated field guides, and if your serious about identifying similar species (insects and plants alike) both types of guides are recommended. Photos are great as they are actual images of the subjects being compared, but when looking at the bits and pieces of a subject. Like the leg spines of certain crickets and comparing them through photos and microscopy. Sometimes a flat clearly drawn image is better than the actual thing. Glare, color, and genetic differences can effect the photo ID. I would encourage any budding entomologist get and use both.
Feel free to check out my Amazon members page, I am a hobby entomologist and like to chat with and help others with similar interests.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
"Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs"Feb 16, 2006
By Plays in the Dirt
As a University Extension Division Master Gardener, I frequently staff Q&A booths. This is the favorite book, hands down, to assist in identifying insects. Between the great insect photos and the illustrations of leaf damage, we can often help the home gardeners positively identify their problem without an actual captured bug to guide us.
I have had to guard my copy to keep it from going home with my friends!
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
The most comprehensive, yet the most user-friendlyMar 06, 2005
By Midwest Book Review
If it's only one book on garden pests you seek for your collection, make it Whitney Cranshaw's Garden Insects Of North America: The Ultimate Guide To Backyard Bugs. Color photos packed throughout make for a weighty paperback which is the most comprehensive, yet the most user-friendly, big bible going. Over 1,420 bugs from fruit flies to borers, aphids to bees, are covered, organizing them not by bug but by plant area affected for quick reference, and by taxa within that. The latest pest management tips for each are here, too, along with all key stages of insect life. Cranshow is a professor and specialist at Colorado State University: his guide should be a standard not just for public library reference collections, but any avid home gardner's bookshelf.
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