Spanish, French, and English explorers and the colonists who followed them were amazed and delighted by the abundance, beauty, and variety of the wildflowers in North America... (from the Introduction)

{HISTORY}

The first American wildflower guide to include color illustrations of all 1553 plants included, Wildflowers of North America, published in 1984, was the combined work of two notable experts in the horticultural field. 

American plant scientist Frank D. Venning (1921-1994) worked for the U.S. International Cooperation Administration during the mid-20th century, where he helped foreign countries develop fruit and vegetable crops and modernize mechanical farming practices appropriate to each country's climate and terrain. With a home base in Miami, he worked in Iran, Mexico, Jamaica, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Trinidad, Martinique, and Costa Rica, among other places, to increase plant and crop diversification during the 1960s. Those experiences led him to focus on plants closer to home in the 1970s and 1980s when he worked with the University of Miami's Swingle Research Laboratory and authoring sevral influentila books on Cacti and Florida plant life and cacti. 

But in addition to the flora of Florida and the cacti, what really captivated Frank's time over the course of ten years in the 1970s was the cataloging of over 10,000 different varieties of American wildflowers. Frank narrowed down the selection to 1500 of the most common and abundant species across North America for his book, in order so that it would act as a start to further study for interested readers. Determined to make his field guide friendly to both amateurs and experts it was brief on scientific information and extensive on beautiful botanical drawings illustrated by Manabu Saito.  Knowing these visual guides were just as important as basic floral descriptions, Frank and Manabu wanted to engage and inspire nature lovers to go out and explore these native plants in their natural settings and surroundings. 

Manabu Saito (1929-2002) grew up in Japan and immigrated to New York to study industrial design. When he became captivated with the plants at a beach cottage that he rented with his partner one summer, Manabu abandoned his industrial design career and focused solely on botanical illustration. The passion he discovered for drawing nature from life far exceeded the joy he found in his trained, professional career, and that joy led him to become one of the well-known botanical illustrators of the 20th century. Known for his fine detailing and delicate brush strokes, in addition to being published in books and magazines, his work has been exhibited around the world, both literally and figuratively. 

In 1984, he was commissioned to create six botanical stamps of orchid flowers for the US Postal Service in the same year that this wildflower book was published. Painting all his botanical subjects from life, Manabu believed in the power of personality of each and every flower and captured them just as he saw them in the wild. Flaws and all... a curled leaf, a petal partially eaten by a bug, a slant of the plant to one side caused by a strong gust of wind. His goal was always to paint nature, not perfection, and in doing so, his paintings have charmed gardeners, flower lovers, art collectors, and horticulists ever since that first drawing at the rented beach cottage. 

Including all the typical information needed in a field guide with notes on common and scientific names, locations, colors, size, and numbers of leaves and petals, this 340-page book forms the foundation of the more than 10,000 wildflowers that populate North American terrain. 

A fun guide to tote along in your picnic basket and on your summer nature walks, this is also a really helpful gardening guide if you want to introduce more wildflowers and native plants into your garden landscape. It not only helps identify but also visualize the wide variety available for the region in which you live.

Photo of Frank Venning courtesy of The Tampa Bay Times, Octobr 29, 1974  and Photo of Manabu Saito courtesy of The Ashville Times, April 25, 1976

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

• Paperback edition published in 1984 by Golden Press
• 340 pages 
• Illustrated  on every page with full-color botanical art 

{CONDITION}

In lovely vintage condition, this book is clean and bright throughout. There are no spots, stains, marks or notations. The spine is tight, and all pages are intact. 

{SIZE}

Measures 7.5" inches (length) x 4.5" inches (width) x .75" inches (thickness) and weighs 13 oz.