Easy Care Native Plants by Patricia A. Taylor
The ‘Native Plants’ shelf in your local library or book store is becoming increasingly populated with titles that proclaim to the help the average homeowner incorporate native plants into their gardens. Now, I’m all for using more native plants and I think every gardener’s library should have at least one volume devoted specifically to native plants. However, I’m not sure I would recommend this particular book as a single, definitive sourcebook.
I must admit, I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Taylor’s detailed timeline of the influences affecting the growth of American gardening trends and the reasons why we have been so dependent on European plants for so long. Her easygoing writing style makes the information readily understandable to even the most casual gardener. I was interested to learn that at the end of the 18th century, the rage among English gardeners was to plant an ‘American border’.
Ms. Taylor also does a thorough job outlining the differences between a national approach to native plants versus a regional approach to identifying natives and the pros and cons of each approach. She offers an extensive list of sources for native plants and discusses how gardeners can help the native plant movement by asking their local garden centers to purchase native plants for them.
So why can’t I recommend this book? The only reason is there are not photos of each of the native plants described in the book. There are photos of some of the plants, but not all of them. Personally, I like to see photos as I’m reading plant descriptions. Without the accompanying photo, I find it hard to imagine just how I can best incorporate a plant into my garden.
So if you’re looking for an interesting overview of the myriad factors affecting the use of native plants, then by all means pick up this book. However, if you’re searching for one of those native plant reference books you’ll turn to time and again, there may be more colorful options.
I agree about photos – Interesting to hear from someone gardening with natives in Connecticut!
I’m reading a book about a pioneer and champion of native plants in California – Lester Rowntree – she was English, lived in the Eastern US, then in California – but her big thing is – what California natives can you grow in the Eastern US gardens! ARGH – Not the same spirit of regionalism that we are growing towards today.
This book title doesn’t mention natives for which area – so I’m not sure if it’s focused on natives local to your region or just in general the philosophy of using local natives in gardens. Good to hear about your own efforts!
Country Mouse,
While the author of ‘Easy Care Natives..’ lives in NJ, the book covers natives that potentially could be planted throughout the US. Each plant profile lists climate zone info.
I’ve never heard of Lester Rowntree before so I’ll have to google her. It is interesting to see how the native plant movement has evolved. I’m glad to see there seems to be growing emphasis on using natives to encourage a biodiverse planting community rather than just ‘they’re low maintanence’. I just finished reading Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy (which I’ll be previewing here soon) which is a wonderful book about encouraging beneficial insects through the use of natives.
I was disappointed with the lack of photographs in that book too.
Lorraine Johnson’s 100 Easy Care Native Plants for Canadian Gardens has good photos and descriptions of each plant; there’s an edition for American gardeners (100 Easy Care Native Plants for American Gardeners in Temperate Zones) which I haven’t read but would be worth looking into.
Rosemary,
Thanks for the heads-up on Lorraine Johnson’s book. I’m always looking for comprehensive resources on plants of all types so I’ll have to check that tile out.