The Living Landscape

December 1, 2016

This acclaimed collaboration from Darke (The American Woodland Garden) and Tallamy (Bringing Nature Home) explains how gardeners can emulate nature's layering technique and features region-specific lists and tables for the continental United States. (LJ 5/15/14)

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 5, 2014
Landscape designer Darke (The American Woodland Garden) and ecologist and entomologist Tallamy (Bringing Nature Home) give meaningful definition to the idea of biodiversity, particularly as it relates to a suburban garden. The book addresses the question: is biodiversity about “just gardening with native plants?” The answer is no; biodiverse gardening means giving native plants a functional and life-giving role in sustaining gardens. The authors highlight the less appreciated but critical role that natives can play, including cooling, tapping into ground water, and providing shelter for wildlife. They also assert that because suburban sprawl has created profound environmental change, “It’s time to stop worrying about where plants come from and instead focus on how they function in today’s ecology.” Their book focuses on long-term strategies for regenerating depleted soil. They dispel the false dichotomy that a garden can be either all natives and therefore healthy or filled with exotic plants and not naturally sustainable. Including 500 color photos, the book offers guidance for creating beautiful landscapes that will be durable and “support life without sacrificing aesthetics.”

June 1, 2014
Interest in the native plant movement is slowly growing, but this guide will interest all gardeners as Darke and Tallamy go beyond simple gardening tips to describe how native plants can play essential roles in gardens designed for multiple purposes, with a focus on proven functionality. Beauty ranks high as a value and function, and the authors also note such equally important garden purposes as screening and cooling. They cover the various botanical, cultural, and temporal layers in wild landscapes, the interrelationships of living organisms, what landscapes do ecologically, the cultivation of appreciation for the wonder of nature's processes, and diverse home garden applications. Abundant color photographs of herons, egrets, turtles, and other animals enhance images of biodiverse landscapes and instructions for using native plant cuttings to create interior decor. The authors also provide useful grids showing selected plants' landscape and ecological functions organized by North American regions. Essential for gardeners and nature lovers interested in sustainability.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2014

Darke (The American Woodland Garden) and Tallamy (Bringing Nature Home) have cowritten a fascinating and beautiful book on creating gardens for wildlife. They begin by discussing the layers of a working forest ecosystem, followed by an explanation of the ecological function of gardens. They then apply these principles to the home landscape, showing gardeners how to build a beautiful garden that also provides habitat for wildlife. Heavily illustrated with stunning color photographs, with most of the images taken in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, the book concludes with useful tables listing selected plants (trees, shrubs, vines, herbaceous plants, grasses, and ferns) along with their landscape and ecological functions such as cover; nest sites; pollen; nectar; food for birds, mammals, and caterpillars; flowers; fall color; fragrance; and screening. There are separate tables for the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, Pacific Northwest, Midwest and Mountain States, and New England regions. VERDICT Highly recommended for all readers interested in ecology, natural history, and gardening for wildlife using native plants.--Sue O'Brien, Downers Grove P.L., IL

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.