Come visit our booth (#117) at the Garden Expo at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI on February 13-15th to pick up a copy.
This is, by far, my favorite plant identification book. Sure, you might say I'm a bit bias because Kane County, about 40 miles west of Chicago, is where I grew up. But its much more than that. Brief but apt descriptions, written in plain English, along side simple yet detailed drawings make identification easy for anyone. Since this book ONLY has species found in the wild in Kane County you know that every plant in the book is likely to be found in our local area. This is in contrast to broad regional guides like Peterson's and Newcomb's which contain many (if not the majority of) plant species which are not found locally.
Furthermore, because it has EVERY species of wild plant in Kane County it is also superior to books that focus only on a particular group of plants such as trees, grasses or only those that live in prairies. Though there may be a few rare species in your area which just don't happen to grow in Kane County, the vast majority of the plants you will find as far south as Urbana Illinois and as far north as Madison Wisconsin will be in this book.
-Frank
