Apologia Botany book as a reference book for plant study?

Has anyone ever used the Apologia books simply as reference material rather than following the curriculum as a whole? Specifically, I’m thinking of getting the Botany book to supplement our nature-study focus on plants. I’m planning to use a couple of the Yesterday’s Classics books on plants and trees as our main read-and-narrate texts combined with a nature study focus on flowers/trees/plants in our local area. I’m looking for something with color illustrations, diagrams, etc to refer to as more specific questions arise, or for the kids to look through on their own time as they are interested. We wouldn’t be using it as our main text and going through it chapter by chapter. Has anyone used this or any of the other Apologia books this way? What did you think? Or can anyone recommend a different well illustrated, colorful plant reference for children to supplement our study? (I’m thinking just a general reference, not a field-guide type book.) I’ve also considered getting the God’s Design for Life (AIG) plants book, we already have the animal one that we are using more as reference than as a main text (we prefer to use living books as our main texts for science/nature).

Thanks for any thoughts!

Jen