Landscaping With Native Plants in the Middle Atlantic Region

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference book!!!
Review: I wanted to design gardens and use plants that would be most beneficial to wildlife and nature as a whole. This was one ofthe books I came across when I learning and looking for resources. It has a good up front section for someone who is just startig to desgn a garden. It talks about planning your landscaping, designing it to work with nature. There is a great intro to why its so important to plant with native plants rather than exotics (which is mostly what the nurseries sell but you can find the native plants there too - I did!). It also taklks about zones, soil, plant succession, and different types of areeas (wet areas, dry areas, moist, forested, etc) We ave a little of all ofthis so it was great to hear about all ofthese things in one reference. So that's the first half ofthe book. The second half I just really ate up! Its filled with tables that tell the food value of different plants/trees for all sorts of wildlife - specific birds included. There are tables of when certain plants bloom, their height, color. Common names rather than latin are provided. There are also table of tree and shrub characteristics (what type of soil they prefer, when they look like as the grow up, height, etc). It just is an incredible resource for native plant information. I'm not sure I've found a more complete source all in one spot. highly recommended for the gardener concerned/aware of the ecology and wanting to restore our native habitats!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference book!!!
Review: I wanted to design gardens and use plants that would be most beneficial to wildlife and nature as a whole. This was one ofthe books I came across when I learning and looking for resources. It has a good up front section for someone who is just startig to desgn a garden. It talks about planning your landscaping, designing it to work with nature. There is a great intro to why its so important to plant with native plants rather than exotics (which is mostly what the nurseries sell but you can find the native plants there too - I did!). It also taklks about zones, soil, plant succession, and different types of areeas (wet areas, dry areas, moist, forested, etc) We ave a little of all ofthis so it was great to hear about all ofthese things in one reference. So that's the first half ofthe book. The second half I just really ate up! Its filled with tables that tell the food value of different plants/trees for all sorts of wildlife - specific birds included. There are tables of when certain plants bloom, their height, color. Common names rather than latin are provided. There are also table of tree and shrub characteristics (what type of soil they prefer, when they look like as the grow up, height, etc). It just is an incredible resource for native plant information. I'm not sure I've found a more complete source all in one spot. highly recommended for the gardener concerned/aware of the ecology and wanting to restore our native habitats!