Book Recommendations
Need something great to read? These are some of our favorite books about native plants, wildlife, design, and more.
Plant Identification and Education
Native Plants for New England Gardens
Mark Richardson and Dan (Jaffe) Wilder
The Northeast Native Plant Primer
Uli Lorimer, Native Plant Trust
Do you want a garden that makes a real difference? Choose plants native to our Northeast region. The rewards will benefit you, your yard, and the environment—from reducing maintenance tasks to attracting earth-friendly pollinators such as native birds, butterflies, and bees. In The Northeast Native Plant Primer, native plant expert Uli Lorimer of the Native Plant Trust makes adding these superstar plants easier than ever before, with proven advice that every home gardener can follow. This incomparable sourcebook includes 225 recommended native ferns, grasses, wildflowers, perennials, vines, shrubs, and trees.
Native Trees for Northeast Landscapes
Wild Seed Project
For those wanting to make positive environmental change, this guide demonstrates the why, what, and how of planting native trees to rewild our landscapes.
Edible Native Plants
Wild Plants I Have Known...and Eaten
Russ Cohen
This guidebook focuses on edible plants that can easily be found throughout Essex County (and most of New England, for that matter).
Nature
Doug Tallamy
IndieBound.com Timberpress.com Amazon.com
Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity by simply choosing native plants. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical and achievable recommendations, we can all make a difference.
Insects
Common Native Bees of Eastern United States
Heather Holms
Bees are beloved garden visitors and are essential to a healthy ecosystem. We welcome their arrival and celebrate their vital work as pollinators, supporting the growth of flowers, plants, and trees. If you see bees in your area, keep this convenient guide close at hand. Designed for ease of use, the tabbed booklet is organized by family and genus. Narrow your choices by group, and view just a few bees at a time. The professional photographs showcase 160 species—including bee look-alikes, such as beetles, hoverflies, and wasps.
Heather Holms
A comprehensive book illustrating the specific relationships between native pollinators, beneficial insects, and native plants. Organized by plant communities, the book profiles over 65 perennial native plants (includes the Northeast region) and the pollinators, beneficial insects and flower visitors the plants attract.
The Pollinator Victory Garden
Kim Eierman
Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening; Attract and Support Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, Bats, and Other Pollinators
Garden Design
The Living Landscape
Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy
IndieBound.com Timberpress.com Amazon.com
You’ll learn the strategies for making and maintaining a diverse, layered landscape—one that offers beauty on many levels, provides outdoor rooms and turf areas for children and pets, incorporates fragrance and edible plants, and provides cover, shelter, and sustenance for wildlife.
Garden Revolution
Larry Weaner
IndieBound.com Timberpress.com Amazon.com
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 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.
Propagation
Growing and Propagating Wildflowers
William Cullina
A comprehensive, beautifully illustrated primer on the fine art of grown wildflowers covers the North American continent, providing would-be cultivators of these beautiful flowers plentiful expert advice.
Indigenous Wisdom
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Robin Wall Kimmerer
As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.
Wildlife