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| Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens | 
| Author: Douglas Tallamy
Publisher: Timber Press
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $17.49
You Save: $10.46 (37%)
New (27) from $17.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 8207
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0881928542
Dewey Decimal Number: 639.92091733
EAN: 9780881928549
ASIN: 0881928542
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Customer Reviews:
Supplies the missing link May 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book finally supplied the missing link for those of us committed to promoting the vitally important reintroduction of native plant materials into our landscapes. We've said habitat is important. We know "they" will come if we plant. Tallamy's book gives us the scientific story that links the two. Bravo!!
More, please! April 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I agree entirely with all the favorable reviews of this book and recommend it highly. Looking at plants from an insect-and-bird-eye view puts them in a new perspective.
I have just gone around my own small garden and have tried to identify the continents-of-origin of most of the perennials in it so that I can choose which to replace. It is shocking how many are not native. Since Dr. Tallamy's recommendations only cover the Mid-Atlantic states, not those farther north, what we need here in New England is information about suitable native plants for our area. If anyone can fill this gap, it will be most appreciated.
Very Important Book! April 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In my opinion, "Bringing Nature Home" is one of the most important books of the decade and should be a candidate for a prize. I have not seen the perspective provided by the author in any other books or articles to date except in vague, arm-waving ways. The book clearly identifies the issues, provides data to back up the opinions, and makes logical recommendations on how to integrate the concepts in your own garden. It is also clear that the actions generally won't have additional costs, it is merely a matter of choosing between two approximately equally priced alternatives.
As someone who has battled invasives in my garden, I can attest to how monocultural an area can become. I think loss of biodiversity is likely to be a much larger issue than global warming over the next 100 years. Without biodiversity, it is likely that the natural and agricultural ecologies will likely collapse. Eliminating alien invasives and reintroducing species to enhance biodiversity is something individuals can do that will have significant impacts since the issue has to be tackled on a locale by locale basis.
We aren't going to be able to do much about global warming on a personal basis since the entire planet's population is going to want to improve their lifestyle which will inevitably result in burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests, much like the history of the United States over the last 200 years. However, maintaining the biodiversity in our own backyard on our own continent IS something that we can do independent of the rest of the world.
This book brings a different focus on the term "good for wildlife" in all of the nursery catalogs. The real revolution will come when the catalogs clearly identify regions of origin and whether or not the plants will support insect populations without significant aesthetic loss. This book may be the one to kick-start that whole process of revolutionizing the nursery trade.
By the way, I do have some "aliens" that I don't plan on giving up but having a garden that is 90% natives instead of 90% non-natives and avoiding plants identified as potentially invasive should make a big difference if it can be repeated across subdivisions. I suspect that research will end up identifying some "aliens" to be acceptable based on the types of criteria that Dr. Tallamy is proposing. Dr. Tallamy points out in his book that there is a paucity of hard data to get into a plant by plant evaluation at this time, but I suspect that the research will come over time.
 Bashing of alien plants continues March 27, 2008
11 out of 29 found this review helpful
The author has a firm grasp on the importance of insects. He also realizes that native plants are necessary for maintaining biodiversity. What is a bit comical is that he gives the impression that his thoughts on topics discussed in this book are unique. And they are....if you're not a naturalist. I suppose he and many like him can be excused for thinking this since collegiate settings (the author is a professor) can be a limitation to real-world experiences. And, indeed, the author strays from what he knows best and teaches (entomology) into the uncharted waters of nature (a field he has little experience with).
For example, Dr. Tallamy says that Japanese Beetles have no natural predators in this country. I think most wildlife professionals would agree that moles, skunks, Blue Jays, and some predatory insects, all of which feed upon Jap. Beetles in grub or adult form, are native animals.
He also delves into the world of non-native plants where the bashing of them continues in earnest. This feel-good, issue du jour is more about guilt-transference than legitimate science.
His claim that alien plants out-compete native plants because the aliens do not suffer constant attacks from local wildlife sounds feasible, but he needs to broaden his thinking. What happens underground is what has the greatest bearing on the success of any plant, no matter the trials that plants go through at the surface. Native plants generally like great soil because they evolved with it. They don't do crummy soil. Human activity destroys great soils and, thus, any plant (certain invasives) that can do well in bad soil has a huge advantage.
Tallamy's contention that alien plants deplete soils is counterintuitive. If you have a plant that will grow in subsoil or compacted soil, it's helping to enrich it by opening up the soil and depositing organic matter into it. Thank God there are plants that will sprout and flourish in these awful soils because if nothing grew there, the soil would NEVER be rehabilitated and, thus, made more acceptable to the seed of a native plant.
And since alien plants do have wildlife value, is the Dr. prepared to deny wildlife this source of food from soils in which a native plant would not be caught dead sinking a root?
Let's face it. Invasives are helping to fix one of the many human messes on this planet: soil profile destruction.
Douglass Tallamy has my permission to use these concepts as his original thought in his next book.
Fascinating and revelatory March 18, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I love this book! It's the most thought-provoking book I've ever read on gardening and environmental stewardship. I had never really realized that exotic plants don't participate as part of the food chain. As I came to realize after reading this book, planting a garden with exotic plants is like setting a table with fine silver and china, inviting your guests to dinner, and omitting the food.
The author would have us completely eliminate exotic plants from our gardens. I'm sure he'll wince if he reads this review, but I don't think I can go quite that far. I inherited a yard that is planted with the grass, trees and shrubs typically planted by developers, and I can't quite imagine starting over from scratch. But I do intend to focus on native plants for all future plantings. I had never considered the possibility before, but I can imagine getting really excited about fostering and finding the fascinating and beautiful insects depicted in his excellent photographs.
The writing style is surprisingly engaging for a topic that is fairly scientific in nature. I enjoyed every word of it.
2 green thumbs up from me!
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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