Weeds: friend or foe?: an illustrated guide to identifying, taming and using weeds By Sally Roth ISBN 190325826X, published in 2001 by Carroll & Brown Publishers UK, colour, soft cover, 176 pages Price $A45.00 plus $A11 postage within Australia, overseas postage please request a quote

This book is a comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide to the advantages and disadvantages of these versatile and ever-surprising plants. It has a gallery of over 70 common garden weed varieties (nearly all of them common in temperate Australia) detailing what each weed looks like when growing and in flower. It lists each weed's potential uses, so you can assess whether or not you want to keep it and shows how to prevent, remove and control weeds.

About the author

Sally Roth is the author of and contributor to numerous popular books, including The Modern Herb Gardener and Landscaping for Dummies. She also has been a columnist and feature writer for Organic Gardening magazine and a contributing editor for Fine Gardening. She has served as a horticulture consultant to Time-Life Books, and regularly lectures in and develops workshops on gardening and natural history.

Table of contents

• Meet the weeds: What is a weed?; Where do weeds come from?; Pros and cons of weeds
• Weed directory: more than 70 weeds arranged alphabetically by Latin name (pages 1-129)
• Using weeds: Gardening with weeds; Weed-gardening techniques; Weed-garden design; Healing weeds; Edible weeds; Weeds for craft
• Weed control: An ounce of prevention; Weed techniques; Manufactured herbicides; Weeds in the lawn; Weeding flower beds and vegetable plots; Weeds in paved areas, gravel and rock gardens; Weeds in the water garden
• Index
• Acknowledgments