Books whet your appetite for upcoming garden season

[A.T. Hagan]

http://www.adn.com/life/gardening/lo...ry/670805.html

Books whet your appetite for upcoming garden season

JEFF LOWENFELS
GARDENING

Published: January 28th, 2009 04:50 PM
Last Modified: January 28th, 2009 04:50 PM

Now that the catalogs are pouring in (or you've spent time viewing them on the Internet), it is time to do some additional reading to prepare for the season. Here are a few suggestions of easy reads that will not only help you chew up some of the time between now and when we can plant, but will make your gardens better as well.

For starters I have emphasized heirloom or open pollinated seed catalogs this year because I see a tremendous potential for Alaska gardeners to use them to develop a gene pool of plants better suited for our strange gardening conditions. Right up that alley is "Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners" by Suzanne Ashworth and Kent Whealy ($24.95). The authors describe how to produce, collect, clean, store and preserve 160 different kinds of vegetable seeds. The second edition includes growing information for starting the seeds, so it is a valuable compendium and worth studying if you want to get in on developing that new Southcentral tomato or carrot.

Next, I have always been fascinated by root cellars. Given that much of what we can grow in our Alaska gardens would do well in winter storage, it is a subject that makes sense, especially in these worsening economic times. Now there is a good book on the subject, "Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables" by Mike and Nancy Bubel ($14.95). Learn how to store any vegetable you grow and how to build a root cellar inside or outside. Hey, even if you don't garden, you can store vegetables and fruits purchased from the supermarket.

Not enough of us compost. It is the single best thing we can all do for the environment and for the plants in our yards. "Let it Rot: The Gardener's Guide to Composting" by Stu Campbell ($12.95) is a great place to start. It has all the basics, presented in an extremely entertaining, humorous manner. Another great, basic book on composting is "Composting: A Practical Step by Step Guide" from Penguin Books ($9.95). It is an easy read. Finally if you are going to compost and want to have a few ideas on bins, "Easy Composters You Can Build" by Nick Noyes has some great plans and at $3.95 is worth the price.

OK, cold frames are something that more Alaskans should use. They not only extend the season, but they increase the variety of things you can grow and provide a pretty good way to keep the moose and rabbits at bay. Start with "Building and Using Cold Frames: Garden Way Publishing Bulletin A-39" by Charles Siegchrist ($3.95). There also is a digital "book" called "Cold Frame: Woodworking Plan" by the editors of Wood Magazine which is downloadable from Amazon and contains a simple set of plans.

In keeping with the idea of extending seasons, you may want to check out Eliot Coleman's "Four Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables From Your Home Garden All Year Long" ($24.95). While you will learn there is a difference between growing conditions in Maine and Southcentral, there is lots of how-to advice on cold frames and things to grow in the winter written with a great sense of humor and delight. It is a good read for that reason alone, though you will learn how to grow more and better and longer from it.

Just because we are entering into a mini-depression that requires a garden from which to eat doesn't mean we have to limit ourselves to vegetables. The book that started the revolution in eating flowers, "Edible Flower Garden" by Rosalind Creasy ($16.95) is the bible here. Creasy has a whole list of "edible" series books all worth getting, by the way, including "The Edible Heirloom Garden," "The Edible Herb Garden" and "The Edible Salad Garden." She is the foodie's gardener. "Edible Flowers and Desserts & Drinks" by Cathy Wilkinson Barash is a beautiful book with great ideas as well.

Finally, part of sustainability is buying locally. Remember to support local book stores before ordering from the Web.

Jeff Lowenfels is a member of the Garden Writers Hall of Fame. You can reach him at home.gci.net/~jeff/gardener or by joining the "Garden Party" radio show from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday on KBYR AM-700.

[A.T. Hagan]

Fragrant Gardening is a good way to add
romance to your garden

http://www.examiner.com/x-711-Oklaho...rant-Gardening

Garden book of the week: Fragrant Gardening
January 31, 7:35 AM
by Dee Nash, Oklahoma Gardening Examiner

Last week, I reviewed Louise Beebe Wilder's The Fragrant Path. Rereading it set me on a quest to find more books on fragrance. One thing I thought Ms. Wilder's book lacked was photographs. I mean, it's no good if a plant smells wonderful, but looks like a beastie, or invades your entire garden. Wilder's book was published in a time when garden tomes weren't as photo driven.

I ordered Fragrant Gardening, by Steve & Val Bradley, which came this week. Fragrant Gardening is a big book. It's coffee table sized which surprised me until I looked between its covers. Inside, it is filled to the brim with beautiful photos of fragrant plants. There are sections on designing a fragrant garden including chapters on assessing your garden and choosing a style. The authors also explain essential oils and the types of flower perfume groups.

However, the parts I liked best were the chapters on scent for each season of the year. Then, within each season, there are projects. For example, the spring projects are pruning (something most gardeners do in spring) and planting a fragrant ground cover. There is also a project for forcing spring bulbs, but I think this should have been put in the fall section because the bulbs will need to be stored in a cool area for several weeks prior to bloom.

At the end of each season, the authors compiled a plant list with photo galleries. These lists are divided into trees, shrubs, climbers & wall shrubs, and perennials & biennials (plants which bloom every other year), bulbs, corms & rhizomes and indoor plants. The plant designations are slightly different for each season, but you get the idea.

These galleries and plant descriptions would be very helpful to the gardener when choosing plants for his/her garden. In fact, using this book along with Wilder's should provide the gardener with an extensive education on fragrance, something which modern gardens often lack.

[neilyoungfan]

Someone needs to come up with a "scratch and sniff" book of fragrant flowers. It would be a best seller!

[A.T. Hagan]

The Anxious Gardener by Rozsika Parker
(Frances Lincoln Ltd., 160 pages, $32.95)

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Books/1105367.html

What gardening personality are you?
By JODI DELONG
Sun. Feb 8 - 4:46 AM

There are some books that ought to come with warning labels, exhorting the purchaser not to read in bed if one has a bedmate.

The Anxious Gardener is such a book. Inevitably, the reader will either burst an eardrum attempting to stifle giggles, or have an outburst of glee, disturbing long suffering bedmates of both human and feline variety.

Anyone who has ever dabbled in planting and tending gardens knows there are various types of gardening personalities out there. One such type is the anxious gardener, (or AG, as Parker fondly refers to the protagonist) who dearly loves plants but who is constantly concerned about doing the right thing when going about gardening tasks. Should she shear back the columbine after it flowers? What if it dies rather than flowers again? Has she given the clematis proper support, and when should she cut it back?

The anxious gardener does have more than her share of horticultural mishaps. Annoyed at all the weed seedlings in the garden, she attacks them with a vengeance, only to find that she’s torn up young perennial plants. Initially delighted at a violet that seeded into her lawn, she finds herself with too many of them and agonizes over uprooting them.

Wanting a perfect greensward of lawn, she despairs when every cat in the neighbourhood decides this is a perfect litter box.

Initially delighted by the exuberance of a flowering vine, she finds tendrils and rootlets coming in through the house’s siding and attempting to take over the interior.

Author Roszika Parker is a British psychotherapist and gardener who understands the joys and frustrations that can be associated with gardening. Her humour is deliciously reminiscent of The Vicar of Dibley, pointed without ever descending into meanness. You’ll chuckle sympathetically, grit your teeth occasionally, and cheer for the Anxious Gardener when she has a success.

To compound her woes, anxious gardener is dubiously blessed with several gardening compadres. Maud-Next-Door is the annoying neighbour who whacks off plants if they so much as hang a leaf over the fence into her yard, and spies constantly on AG as she goes about her tender labours.

Conversely, friend Mary is a competent gardener, the type to encourage AG in her endeavours and focus on good points rather than flaws in the garden. Most of the flaws are all in AG’s mind; she being her own worst critic. Mary sees the glass as half full; our Anxious Gardener not only sees it half empty, but full of mouldy water and cracked by the overzealous roots of an invasive vine.

Then there is the gardening mentor. I’m quite sure we have all encountered a persona like this in our gardening lives. She’s the kind who is an expert gardener and never fails to let you know that, as she shows off her superior knowledge to point out one’s shortcomings. She’ll give backhanded compliments that do nothing to alleviate the anxious gardener’s neuroses, and while she is certainly knowledgeable, she neglects to encourage while she teaches. She’s the sort of gardener that you earnestly hope ends up with a permanent infestation of goutweed in her rose border.

Despite the anxious gardener’s trepidations and troubles, she continues to garden with vigour. Even in the face of dying plants and over-zealous insects, she finds that hope does spring eternal, sort of like the bindweed.

Freelance writer and compulsive (but not expert) gardener Jodi DeLong is not an anxious gardener except when it comes to goutweed.

[A.T. Hagan]

Cornus sanguinea

http://www.examiner.com/x-711-Oklaho...chael-W-Buffin

Garden book of the week: Winter-flowering Shrubs by Michael W. Buffin
February 6, 5:20 PM
by Dee Nash, Oklahoma Gardening Examiner

Although we're having glorious weather this weekend, winter isn't finished with us yet, so in honor of the cold blasts yet to come, this week's review is a winter gardening book.

What? Did I just write winter gardening? Yes, I did.

In Oklahoma, gardening doesn't completely end with the last fallen leaf. Instead, winter is an excellent season to peruse the garden and plan ways to get through this coldest of seasons without losing your mind. Our friends up north are covered in picturesque, but extremely cold snow, while we're living in a land of gray and brown. Our Bermuda grass is sporting its winter coat of golden khaki, while the Quercus marilandica, (blackjack oaks) are displaying their darkened bark.

So, what can you plant which will enliven the landscape and give your property that elusive four season interest garden writers are always talking about?

In Winter-flowering Shrubs, Michael W. Baffin has some great ideas. He explains why we should garden for winter.

"For me, there is no distinct day when winter simply 'starts' or, for that matter, 'ends'. I tend to view the seasons as a series of transitional periods defined by shifting weather patterns, temperatures and sunlight."

Tell that to northern gardeners. Of course, Baffin is writing from the United Kingdom, but this book also covers information for the United States. Just keep his maritime climate in mind when he makes plant suggestions. He does point out that the U.S. is much hotter and colder than England because it is part of the North American continent.

It turns out that he loves the season of winter best because he has more time for relaxation and to study the individual plants. Interesting. I've found that this winter, especially, I've been more interested in my garden than ever before.

Once Baffin discusses design, he moves on to plants with specific winter attributes. For example, bark effects like the Cornus sanguinea, (bloodtwig dogwood). I have three of these beauties in my own garden, and although they bloom white in spring, I can attest to winter being their best season.

He moves on to evergreens and "plants with presence and attitude." In this section, he includes grasses like Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light.'

One thing I really love about British authors is their use of Latin or botanical names for plants. Their audience knows plants by their botanical names, and they are trying to educate their American cousins. With the Internet, if you don't know a particular name, you can now easily look it up online for the common variations.

He discusses plants which have persistent fruit or actually bloom and fruit in winter. Then, he moves on to an alphabetical listing of winter-flowering shrubs. I found looking through this list to be both educational and enjoyable. I'm also glad he included at least one photo of each shrub, and in the case of some shrubs like Hamamelis (witch hazel), there are many different cultivars shown. Further, under the botanical name, he does list the common names for each shrub.

It is important to note that some of the plants are not suitable for growing in Oklahoma because of our extreme summer heat. Also, some are not hardy here. The hardiness zones are listed at the end of each shrub's description.

I really enjoyed this book, and it has inspired me to look at winter differently. After all, we only have today, and we should enjoy each season if we can.

[A.T. Hagan]

http://www.cleveland.com/insideout/p...810.xml&coll=2

'Kids' Container Gardening' and 'The Old Tree' are books that get kids excited about gardening
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Roxanne Washington
Plain Dealer Reporter

Just because it's winter doesn't mean you can't get children excited about gardening. Try a few entertaining books until you can go outside.

"A gardening or growing-related story can really enthrall a child," said Josh Steffen, head of the Hershey Children's Garden, Cleveland Botanical Garden.

A few years ago, Cindy Krezel wrote "Kids' Container Gardening - Year-round Projects For Inside and Out" (Ball Publishing, $14.95).

"Gardening gets you in touch with the earth," Krezel writes. "It's good for the soul. It's especially good for children, who have so little control over their daily lives."

One of the more fun projects in the book is "pot people." Krezel shows how to take small clay pots and - with googley eyes, craft glue and other materials - make silly planters for the window sill and, later in the season, outdoors.

Krezel's garden aquarium is another thing for kids (and adults). All that's needed is a clear glass container, pebbles, bamboo, a few other materials and a gold fish.

Horticulturists were encouraged when author Richard Louv wrote "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" (Algonquin Books) in 2006. Louv explores research that links the absence of nature in children's lives to rising rates of obesity, attention disorders and depression.

One reviewer called the book the first "to bring together a new and growing body of research indicating that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults."

Another way to introduce kids to gardening is the American Horticulture Society - Youth Gardening Symposium, which will be Thursday, July 23, through Saturday, July 25, at the Cleveland Botanical Garden.

In the meantime, there are plenty of gardening books - fiction and how-to - for children. The American Horticultural Society lists on its Web site (www.ahs.org; click on "Press Room") the four children's books that received the Growing Good Kids - Excellence in Children's Literature Award last year.

The books are:

"The Old Tree" (Candlewick Press, $16.99), by Ruth Brown. Different animals get together to save a leafy home. The story is about cooperation and conservation. Ages 4-8.

"If I Were a Tree" (Brown Dog Books, $17.95), written and illustrated by Dar Hosta. With vibrant color, cut-paper collages and soft verse, Hosta describes a variety of tree species and encourages children to image how it would be to be a tree. Ages 4-8.

"The Runaway Garden: A Delicious Story That's Good For You, Too" (Mitten Press, $17.95), by Jeffery L. Schatzer, illlustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler. What made the snap beans snap? How did the berries get into a jam? Grandpa spins a tale about the night that all the plants in the garden run away.

"Mother Earth and Her Children: A Quilted Fairy Tale" (Breckling Press, $17.95), by Sibylle von Olfers, illustrated by Sieglinde Schoen-Smith and translated by Jack Zipes.

The Junior Master Gardener Web site (www.jmgkids.us), run by the American Horticultural Society, includes Growing Good Kids Book Awards Classics list, books that the group regards as the top 40 children's garden fiction books of the past 100 years.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
rwashington@plaind.com, 216-999-4427

[A.T. Hagan]

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2...varieties-of-/

Life and Soul of the Garden: The many varieties of perennials
make them easy to get, a foundation to build on


When Perennials Bloom gives the bloom periods of such
varieties as Inula ensifolia.
Timber Press/Washington Post Photos

By Adrian Higgins
THE WASHINGTON POST
Published: February 12, 2009
WASHINGTON

What do the demure foamflower of April, the outlandish peony of May and the wild goldenrod of September have in common? They are hardy perennials, plants that bloom in their season and then retreat slowly into the ground, to grow afresh the next year.

A generation or two ago, perennials were viewed as occasional showstoppers. The peony was one, the bearded iris another, the lilies of summer a third. Today, with hundreds of varieties easily obtained, they are the life and soul of the garden. They ebb and flow between the constancy of shrubs and trees and the breathless performance of flowering annuals. Annuals don't know in October that frost is about to wipe the smiles off their faces. Perennials are wiser plants, growing with the warmth of the sun and the soil and shrinking when their flowering is done. They bring a natural rhythm to our gardens and, by extension, our lives.

Tomasz Anisko has written a book that is destined to become a perennial itself, for it unlocks in a practical way one of the hardest aspects of garden design: figuring out which perennials bloom when, exactly.

As curator of plants at Longwood Gardens, he has synthesized plant blooming periods, recorded over seven years at the public garden in Kennett Square, Pa., and the result is When Perennials Bloom (Timber Press, 2008, $59.95). The book includes the bloom periods and sequences of 462 varieties. The spotted cranesbill Espresso begins to flower in late April, reaches its peak in mid-May and trails off through June. The flamboyant native rose mallow Lord Baltimore begins to unfurl its large scarlet flowers in mid-July and peaks into September before waning in early fall. When that hibiscus is well into its peak, the lance leaf hosta joins the party with lavender flower spikes that decline alongside the hibiscus bloom.

Planting confidence

Once you can predict bloom periods, you can plant perennial combinations with confidence and design for a sequence of blooms at points of the year that interest you. Suddenly, the old idea that the gardening season begins in March and ends by June is quaintly absurd.

"I was trying to put together something that would be of very practical use to both home gardeners and professional landscape designers," Anisko said. "What I found frustrating reading a lot of books on perennials was that the reference to the flowering period is always very vague."

There is a dead time during the hottest weeks, between the beginning of July and the end of August. As an armchair exercise in winter, it's fun to look at this almanac and figure out how to correct it. Here are perennials that peak in that eight-week period: purple coneflowers, coreopsis, helianthus Lemon Queen, agastaches, black-eyed Susans, Inula ensifolia, perovskia, swamp milkweed and yarrow Fire King, to name a few.

I have planted areas of my garden for September and October interest, but I wonder what else would work at that time. Lo, the scarlet rose mallow Davis Creek, catmints, knautia, calamintha, caryopteris, toad lilies and the tall tatarian asters.

I am also intrigued by the idea of perennials that bloom for weeks on end, as annuals do, but without the recurring work and constant feeding and watering.

The Fire King yarrow flowers in late May and persists until November. There is a cornflower, or centaurea, named John Coutts that blooms in May but is still in flower at Halloween. The gaura variety Corrie's Gold cranks up in June and winds down in November.

Prudent pruning

A lot of this longevity is produced, however, by cutting back the plants as their first flush of bloom begins to fade, spurring them to regrow and rebloom. Many of these rebloomers, Anisko said, are found in habitats where they would be grazed on by animals, and so they developed to resprout and bloom quickly. Flowering, after all, is about reproducing, a primal motivation of all living things.

In an interview, Anisko said it would be a mistake to plant long-flowering perennials alone. "I was careful not to suggest a perennial that blooms for 25 weeks is better than one that blooms for only three weeks," he said. "There's a place for both kinds." Usually, the briefer the show, the more intense and eye-catching it is. Many of the long-flowering perennials work best as filler plants, he said.

[A.T. Hagan]

Green flowers have never done it for me, but some folks do like them. If you're one then this is for you.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nwgard...garbook12.html



Garden Book: 'Green Flowers: Unexpected Beauty for the Garden, Container or Vase'
By Alison Hoblyn (Timber, 184 pages, $24.95)
Last updated March 11, 2009 11:53 a.m. PT

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, this hardcover book celebrates lime, chartreuse, jade and all other shades of green. The British author is known for her sophisticated all-green flower arrangements and ideas for growing an all-green flower border (we're talking shades of green petals here, not "going green" as in organic gardening). If you need to spice up your garden with some unusual plants, you'll find plenty of inspiration here. From the moisture-loving 'Green Goddess' calla lily to the quirky, tropical kangaroo paw and the foul-smelling, meat-eating yellow pitcher plant, your envious gardening friends will be turning ... well, you get the point.

-- Marianne Binetti

[occupant]

I used to be a floral manager for a large supermarket chain. I ran a beautiful department BTW. Most of our floral came from Canadian greenhouses or some from resellers in Florida. They were always trying to push "green flowers" onto us as the hottest "new" thing. They never were hot, didn't look realistic and never ever sold.The green roses were just awful, and the lime green chrysanthemums were the worst looking things...ugh.

[A.T. Hagan]

http://www.courant.com/features/gard...,2931080.story

Help With What To Lay In Those Garden Beds
March 6, 2009

The most difficult task in gardening — that is, aside from digging up a flower bed to begin with — is deciding what to plant.

Two new and reasonably priced paperback books from Timber Press offer expert help.

"50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants" by Tracy DiSabato-Aust (168 pages, 135 color photos, $16.95), provides the author's selection of plants that offer instant eye appeal, are easy to grow and robust in cultivation. The necessary bits are all here: scientific name, hardiness zone, height and spread, light needs and some suggested companion plants.

After initial choices, the next challenge is finding plants that complement each other. Tom Fischer, editor in chief at Timber Press, has put together a useful guide, "Perennial Companions: 100 Dazzling Plant Combinations For Every Season" (216 pages, 100 color photos, $14.95).

Other books have presented companion-plant suggestions, but Fischer's seasonal approach is particularly handy — added insurance that a carefully composed arrangement of plants will actually bloom at the same time.

— Peter F. Sleight ( psleight@courant.com)

[flourbug]

Yesterday an Amazon box arrived. Jason surprised me with one of the books from my Wish List. How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits (and...
I haven't had a chance to read it but it looks good. Only line drawings, no pretty color pictures, but it contains a lot of serious information about growing a lot of food on a small amount of property. The author does not seem to support square foot gardening, but rather raised beds and intensive planting. It's different and I look forward to reading more.

[A.T. Hagan]

Jeavons methods have been proven to work just like he says, but get yourself a sturdy, quality spade because you're going to need it.

.....Alan.

[flourbug]

Alan, right now I'm just doing a lot of containers for veggies, and it's working nicely keeping me in salad greens and herbs. But I want to build my knowledge of Florida gardening in case it is necessary to expand. The few times I planted in the ground I ended up racing the local critters to see who gets the first bite out of my produce. I spray, it rains, I go out and discover they have eaten their way through my garden in the middle of the downpour, one big bite out of every veggie. I also understand one of the big problems with planting directly in the ground are nematodes. So I like the idea of raised beds or square foot gardening where there is a barrier between the earth and the roots of the plants.

[A.T. Hagan]

http://www.examiner.com/x-2485-SF-Ga...el-Bartholomew



Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
March 24, 12:50 PM

Gardeners everywhere have fallen in love with Mel Bartholomew all over again. Twenty-five years ago, Bartholomew wrote down his innovative ideas for gardeners called Square Foot Gardening.

Gardeners tried his unique method and millions never looked back. Both the book and technique were major successes.

In his most current version of Square Foot Gardening, award winning author, Mel Bartholomew, has yet again taken the gardening world yardstick with the All New Square Foot Gardening. A serious re-vamp of the old one, this book is a testimonial of just how simple, relaxing and rewarding home gardening can be.

Bartholomew’s easy-going nature and clear directions make this book a must-read for beginning gardeners and sheer pleasure for the more seasoned garden crowd. I promise you that every gardener will take something new out of this idea-packed book.

Bartholomew has thought of everything. The pictures are excellent and the colorful diagrams leave nothing to the imagination. The All New Square Foot Gardening will take you from planning your garden to simple directions on building boxes to vertical gardening. He’ll have you extending the seasons, gardening with children, and planning gardens for seniors.

Throughout his book, Bartholomew has these terrific green squares titled “Penny Pincher” that have great money-saving ideas for gardeners. I especially enjoy another section that is seen in every chapter on key points that he wants you to share with his readers, called “Mel says”.

One of the points he makes that's specific to new gardeners says;

“Looking through a seed catalog is not the best way to decide what to grow. They make it all look so good and sound so exciting that you can easily get carried away. I recommend that you review your shopping list from lat week and last month.

That eliminates the ‘Oh, I’d like to grow that!’ or ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to grow peanuts?’ Start simple and easy with the foods you already eat regularly. Expand and experiment later on. So often I hear, ‘But I’m so anxious to start my SFG. I’ve always wanted a garden. I want to grow everything.”

Well, if you’ve been wishing and wanting for twenty years, spending the first year getting experience and confidence with the SFG method won’t make any difference. Then spend the next forty years enjoying your garden. Don’t ruin a lifetime hobby by starting off too big."

Sound advice from one of the masters of gardening.
Come find out what you could be doing to make gardening easier.

All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, 271 pages, Cool Springs Press, ISBN 1-59186-202-7

[A.T. Hagan]

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/a...0310/1005/LIFE

Book makes case for native plants

By Bill Cary • Gannett News Service • March 29, 2009



In Doug Tallamy's new book, "Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens," he argues that native plants are vital to the survival of our ecosystems because they sustain native wildlife. Tallamy, professor and head of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del., has spent years studying insects and the many ways they interact with plants. (Gannett News Service)

People in the gardening world are calling Douglas W. Tallamy's book on native plants the next "Silent Spring," Rachel Carson's 1962 book that warned of the dangers of chemical pesticides and helped launch the modern-day environmental movement.

In his book, "Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens" (Timber Press, 2007, $27.95), Tallamy argues that native plants are vital to the survival of our ecosystems because they sustain native wildlife. When native plants disappear, so do the insects that have evolved with them, thus depriving birds and other animals of the food they need to survive.

Tallamy, professor and head of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del., has spent years studying insects and the many ways they interact with plants. This food web helps to determine the diversity of our ecosystem.

Suburbia plays role

Much of his book on native plants focuses on the importance of suburban gardens and the plants and landscaping suburban homeowners select. The first two chapters are titled "Restoring Natives to Suburbia" and "The Vital New Role of the Suburban Garden."

"We all have a decision to make every time we put a plant in the yard," Tallamy said. "How much biodiversity do we want to support?"

During a talk sponsored by the Westchester Fairfield Horticultural Society, he said, "We're convinced nature is happy someplace else," so we don't worry about it disappearing from our yard or surrounding community.

We've put nature into neat little quadrants and many of these are filled with invasive species, he said. Look at the narrow strips of land next to our highways - many are overflowing with invasive porcelain berry and bittersweet vines that are pulling down the native trees and choking out everything else.

When we load up our ecosystem with pretty plants from China or Europe, our native insects can't eat them. From the insects' point of view, we might as well stick plastic flowers in our yard instead of peonies or lilacs.

Nationwide, 100 million acres have been invaded by alien plants, and that's expected to double in the next five years.

There are 422,000 species of plants in the world. "Each species has a specific function in its ecosystem," Tallamy said.

Why do we need biodiversity? "There is lots of evidence that biodiversity increases the stability of ecosystems," he said. "Plants and animals are the rivets holding the ecosystems that sustain us together."

Development is putting enormous pressure on native plants and animals. Most of our virgin forest is long gone, and we now have 129 million houses in the United States. Some 2 million acres is lost to development every year, according to the Nature Conservancy.

A new approach

To increase the biodiversity of our suburbs, we need to connect all of our little habitat islands and create biological corridors to support more plants and animals. We should also reduce the size of our lawns and plant more native trees and shrubs, which add habitat structure.

In order to give biodiversity a second chance, we need to change the way we landscape, Tallamy said. "We can manipulate our properties and get a huge effect."

One approach is to build privacy screens on the edges of our properties and fill them with native trees and shrubs, which would also provide more linked corridors for wildlife.

If you're going to plant one thing in your yard, make it an oak tree. Oak trees support 532 species of butterflies and moths (or "bird food," as Tallamy calls them). It's the number one tree for promoting biodiversity. Birds flock to oak trees because they're so alive with insects they want to eat.

Black cherry trees are second on the biodiversity list; goldenrod is the top perennial.

When choosing understory trees and shrubs, Tallamy suggests flowering dogwood, shadbush, hackberry, native viburnums, pinxterbloom (a great native azalea) and alternate-leaf dogwood.

The good news, he said, is that it's not too late to turn things around and bring natives back into our ecosystems. The nursery industry is also starting to recognize that gardeners want a larger palette of native plants for home landscapes.

"How we garden now is what nature will look like," Tallamy said.