Product 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

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18035 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

From Booklist
Here's a sobering statistic: there are more than 100,000 species of insects and related garden pests in North America, and to gardeners it must often seem that the vast majority of them are eating, crawling, and flitting their way through treasured plants and flowers. Knowing what's doing the damage is more than half the battle in winning the pest-control war, and to that end Cranshaw has developed an impressive, encyclopedic guide to identifying everything from acorn weevils to zebra caterpillars. Understanding the way gardeners think, Cranshaw has logically organized the information according to the type of damage inflicted. The chapter on leaf chewers, for example, lists more than three-dozen likely insect culprits. Insect groups are then further characterized by host plant, range, appearance, and habits to precisely pinpoint the offending pest. Methods of controlling insect populations, in-depth discussions of beneficial insects, a comprehensive at-a-glance appendix of common plant-insect associations, and more than 1,400 color photos make this a marvel among insect identification manuals. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
" you can then zero in on your culprit among the over 1,400 color photographs". -- Gerry Rising, Buffalo News

"Copious and sometimes rather glorious photos (the section on slugs is fabulous) make identifications relatively simple". -- Diane Heilenman, The Courier-Journal

"Cranshaw has packed his book with concise, organized information on all the common and not-so-common insect pests". -- Jack Aldridge, San Francisco Chronicle

"If you've ever wondered what's eating your garden besides yourself and the woodchuck, this is the book for you". -- Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Times Book Review

"It will make you the neighborhood entomologist". -- Joel M. Lerner, The Washington Post

"Love 'em or loathe them, every good gardener at least needs to know their bugs." -- Michael Haun, Daytona Beach News Journal

"The publisher calls it the ultimate guide to backyard bugs - and it is". -- Suzanne Hively, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"This is the most comprehensive guide to common insects found in North American gardens". -- Holly Hayes, San Jose Mercury News

Cranshaw has constructed a lucid and well-illustrated text to allow gardeners to identify insects they encounter. -- Choice

No one will argue with [Cranshaw's] desire to demystify insects and their world. -- Adrian Higgins , The Washington Post

Review
An impressive, encyclopedic guide to identifying everything from acorn weevils to zebra caterpillars. Understanding the way gardeners think, Cranshaw has logically organized the information according to the type of damage inflicted. . . . Methods of controlling insect populations, in-depth discussions of beneficial insects, a comprehensive at-a-glance appendix of common plant-insect associations, and more than 1,400 color photos make this a marvel among insect identification manuals.
(Booklist )

Know thine enemy,' a time-worn caveat lifted from Sun-tzu's treatise, The Art of War, is sage advice for the organic gardener hoping to emerge victorious in the battle of the bugs. Acquiring such knowledge has just become easier with the release of Garden Insects of North America. . . . [Cranshaw] has packed his book with concise, organized information on all the common and not-so-common insect pests of turf, orchards and gardens in North America. The overwhelming emphasis is on recognizing and categorizing the insects themselves, using appearance, type of destructive damage encountered and target food hosts as clues. . . . With detailed, high-quality photographic plates conveniently adjacent to the standardized insect descriptions, identification of suspected insect enemies is straightforward.
(Jack Aldridge San Francisco Chronicle )

An exceptionally well organized and complete text on garden insects. . . . Almost every insect is illustrated, with well over 1,000 full-color photographs showing them in various life cycle stages. Its very simple but complete explanations, diagrams and photographs make this the best reference I have read for diagnosing virtually all insect problems. It will make you the neighborhood entomologist.
(Joel M. Lerner The Washington Post )

If you've ever wondered what's eating your garden besides yourself and the woodchuck, this is the book for you. I know that sometime this summer I will carry a bug of some sort into the house to identify it in this volume. And I know that I'll lose at least an hour looking at photographs of all the other bugs that might lie hidden in the herbage.
(Verlyn Klinkenborg New York Times Book Review )

[Cranshaw is] an entomologist with perhaps a skewed affection for all kinds of bugs, but no one will argue with his desire to demystify insects and their world so that people understand better whether and how to react to a problem, and to enjoy this Lilliputian drama.
(Adrian Higgins The Washington Post )

An impressive garden reference that doubles as a field guide. Wherever you live in North America, your insects are included her. . . . The more than 1,400 color pictures of insects and their damage are truly impressive and will be invaluable in helping readers track down the culprits of their plant injury. . . . This wonderful reference will certainly become a classic. . . . Whether you are a professional or a home gardening enthusiast, this is an indispensable reference.
(Jeffrey Hahn The American Gardener )

Garden Insects is destined to become the new bible for horticulturalists and home gardeners alike. I've added it to the few books I keep close at hand while I am in the garden. Luckily, Garden Insects is also an exceptionally well-made paperback with water-resistant cover and 656 pages that fall open without cracking the spine and stay open without having to balance a rock on top. At $29.95, it's a bargain.
(Patricia Jonas Plants and Garden News )

Insects are the most diverse and widely distributed life-forms on the planet. Gardens, and the diverse gardeners that tend them, are similarly widely distributed. Succinctly capturing this diversity, Cranshaw has constructed a lucid and well-illustrated text to allow gardeners to identify insects they encounter. . . . Breadth of synthesis, high quality, and effective formatting justify this work as a valuable addition to the popular literature.
(Choice )

A must-have reference for any gardener.
(San Francisco Chronicle )

Cranshaw has produced a wonderful guide whether the reader is interested in understanding, managing, or just observing theses insects. Identification is the very first step in the process of opening the door of appreciation, and this book is the key.
(Biology Digest )

Customer Reviews

The Best Book on Insects for Gardeners and Naturalists
"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.

The best book available for identifying garden insects
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.

"Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs"
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!