Free Downloads The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives To Nonnative Flowers And Plants, An Illustrated Guide
Winner of the 2012 Helen Hull Award, presented by the National Garden Clubs. Midwestern gardeners and landscapers are becoming increasingly attracted to noninvasive regional native wildflowers and plants over popular nonnative species. The Midwestern Native Garden offers viable alternatives to both amateurs and professionals, whether they are considering adding a few native plants or intending to go native all the way. Native plants improve air and water quality, reduce use of pesticides, and provide vital food and reproductive sites to birds and butterflies, that nonnative plants cannot offer, helping bring back a healthy ecosystem. The authors provide a comprehensive selection of native alternatives that look similar or even identical to a range of nonnative ornamentals. These are native plants that are suitable for all garden styles, bloom during the same season, and have the same cultivation requirements as their nonnative counterparts. Plant entries are accompanied by nature notes setting out the specific birds and butterflies the native plants attract. The Midwestern Native Garden will be a welcome guide to gardeners whose styles range from formal to naturalistic but who want to create an authentic sense of place, with regional natives. The beauty, hardiness, and easy maintenance of native Midwestern plants will soon make them the new favorites.
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Ohio University Press; 1 edition (September 20, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0821419374
ISBN-13: 978-0821419373
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #92,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #4 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Region > Midwest #29 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Ornamental Plants #77 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Garden Design
With the current emphasis on locally grown food in our diets, we may well ask "what about our gardens?"Exotic species may be dramatic but are they always the most suitable?In The Midwestern Native Garden, Charlotte Adelman and Bernard I. Schwartz (authors of The Prairie Directory of North America) bring decades of research and advocacy on behalf of Midwestern prairies and native species to the home garden. In over 200 lavishly illustrated pages they show how non-native species may be replaced with native alternatives best suited for Midwestern soil and climate.Attracting local birds and butterflies as well as other beneficial insects is only one of the advantages of this approach to gardening. Besides helping to assure the survival of these sometimes threatened species (and encouraging a responsible approach to plant acquisition), planting those best suited to local conditions may yield the gardener more time to enjoy his or her labors.With chapters arranged by seasons, and enhanced by clear photographs and drawings, gardeners may enjoy many months of enjoyment of these infinitely varied jewels of the prairie and other Midwestern ecological niches. Extensive appendices include bibliography and resource lists adding value to this useful handbook. A beautiful and practical gift for any Midwestern gardener.
This book promotes substituting native plants for non-native, thus encouraging bees, butterflies and birds to inhabit our gardens. There are excellent pictures and text describing suitable substitutions. This is a wonderful book for the serious gardener.
I chose this book(The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives toNonnative Flowers) to help me reintroduce native plants into my gardensand landscape. The lives of our birds, bees as well as a host of other pollinators,depend on native plants. This book provides very useful information, including whichare host plants for butterflies. I planned on relying on the index and my Kindle whenshopping for native plants. Since my Kindle does not feature colors, I am unable to dothis. For those who do, natives are listed in a different color than nonnatives plants.This feature is important because plant names can be very similar. Had the asterisk beenused to indicate natives, (for e-readers) this downside could have been avoided.
This is the single most useful book in my collection of gardening books, and I will be using it to select plants for my gardens in 2015. This book caters to my desire to provide food, habitat, and shelter for native birds, insects, and animals, thus my desire to provide only native plants on which these creatures depend.First of all, the book is broken down by blooming season (spring, summer, fall, and even a couple pages for winter), so you can easily select plants to provide a year-round food supply. Within each of those sections, nonnative plants are listed alphabetically in red, then native alternatives are provided (in green titles, but it specifically states native/nonnative, so don't worry if you're colorblind).The plant entries are like an encyclopedia: botanical family, genus; height; ornamental attributes; cultivation requirements; nature notes; and notes about culinary uses, use by Native Americans, invasiveness, etc. Most entries have a color picture or drawing. It is the size of a handbook 9"h x 6"w x 3/4" thick, likely leading to the only downside: the print is somewhat small. I definitely need my reading glasses to read this book.
Great addition to any gardener interested in identifying invasive species, as well as adding native species to their gardens. Easy to read and use.
The Nature Institute, Godfrey, IL had a great power point presentation and discussion by Charlotte and Bernard last weekend. The book is going to be a great resource for our members and friends. Their passion for natives is obvious! Their knowledge is vast. Love the preface of the book. I have done the same thing in my gardens.
This is a beautifully illustrated and very informative garden book of native midwestern flowers. It has excellent notes about how some flowers are rated especially highly as beneficial to pollinators.
This book is really good as the native flowers do so well and I was not aware of this.Had to take the Master Gardeners course to find this out. Lots of good informationin this book for people with questions.
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