There are many excellent books available about native plant gardening.
Here are a few of our members’ favorites:
Bringing Nature Home:
How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants
by Douglas W. Tallamy
As Doug Tallamy eloquently explains, everyone can welcome more wildlife into their yards just by planting even a few native plants. With fascinating explanations and extensive lists of native plants for regional habitats, this scientifically researched book can help us all to make a difference. No prior training is needed to become a backyard ecologist — but Doug Tallamy’s books can be a vital first step. This inspiring and informative book is our first recommendation for anyone who’s interested in “healing the earth, one yard at a time.”
Garden Revolution:
How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change
by Larry Weaner & Thomas Christopher
This lushly-photographed reference is an important moment in horticulture that will be embraced by anyone looking for a better, smarter way to garden. Larry Weaner is an icon in the world of ecological landscape design, and now his revolutionary approach is available to all gardeners. Garden Revolution shows how an ecological approach to planting can lead to beautiful gardens that buck much of conventional gardening’s counter-productive, time-consuming practices. Instead of picking the wrong plant and then constantly tilling, weeding, irrigating, and fertilizing, Weaner advocates for choosing plants that are adapted to the soil and climate of a specific site and letting them naturally evolve over time. Allowing the plants to find their own niches, to spread their seed around until they find the microclimate and spot that suits them best, creates a landscape that is vibrant, dynamic, and gorgeous year after year.
Planting in a Post-Wild World:
Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes
by Claudia West and Thomas Ranier
Over time, with industrialization and urban sprawl, we have driven nature out of our neighborhoods and cities. But we can invite it back by designing landscapes that look and function more like they do in the wild: robust, diverse, and visually harmonious. Planting in a Post-Wild World is an inspiring call to action dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can flourish in our cities and suburbs. This is a practical guide that describes how to incorporate and layer plants into plant communities to create an environment that is reflective of natural systems and thrives within our built world.
Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians
by Tavia Cathcart and Dennis Horn
This is guidebook, complete with excellent photos and plant descriptions, is one of the most complete, comprehensive and informative field guides ever published on the flora of this region. Sponsored by the Tennessee Native Plant Society, this book is a landmark achievement that brings the beauty and uniqueness of wildflowers to amateurs and experts alike. The focus is on flowering plants found in Tennessee; it is an excellent resource for identifying plants you find in natural settings.