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.

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.

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’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!