For nature buffs who want to learn more about the woody plants of Canada’s easternmost province, you might be interested in Trees & Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s one of the latest books by Todd Boland, a founding member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Wildflower Society. He also happens to be the Research Horticulturalist at the Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden. Todd has gone on to write a similar guide to the woody plants of the Maritimes covering Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI plus a series of wildflower guides on the way.
Trees & Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador is nicely laid out, with 3-4 colour photos per entry that clearly show different aspects of the plant. The text is easy to follow, complemented with symbols to help users find and grasp key features at a glance.
It is different to other field guides in that plants are arranged by their leaves, rather than scientific classification or flower colour. But after reading the introduction and trying out a few species, I was easily able to navigate around the book.
I appreciate that the focus is on the native trees and shrubs of the province, yet includes non-natives that are also found in the area. For those cases, their introduced status is indicated. While the book is heavier than some field guides out there, it is still a great tool to have on hand if weight is not an issue, or to refer to at home.
Trees & Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador is published by Boulder Publications and can be bought here or perhaps at your local book store!
Check out the article Todd shared with CWF on native alpine plants of Newfoundland here.
Sarah Coulber
Sarah is an Education Specialist at the Canadian Wildlife Federation. She writes about the benefits and ‘how-to’s’ of wildlife-friendly gardening, coordinates content for the Gardening for Wildlife web section, co-manages the wildlife-friendly demonstration gardens at CWF headquarters and assists Canadians looking to achieve similar results with their own properties.
