Books

100 Plants to Feed the Bees: Provide a Healthy Habitat to Help Pollinators Thrive
by: The Xerces Society
The international bee crisis is threatening our global food supply, but this user-friendly field guide shows what you can do to help protect our pollinators. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation offers browsable profiles of 100 common flowers, herbs, shrubs, and trees that support bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. The recommendations are simple: pick the right plants for pollinators, protect them from pesticides, and provide abundant blooms throughout the growing season by mixing perennials with herbs and annuals! 100 Plants to Feed the Bees will empower homeowners, landscapers, apartment dwellers — anyone with a scrap of yard or a window box — to protect our pollinators.~section~

Best Native Plants for Southern Gardens: A Handbook for Gardeners, Homeowners, and Professionals
by: Gil Nelson

An essential guide to native plants of the Southeast

Best Native Plants for Southern Gardens highlights and illustrates several hundred readily available and easy-to-grow native species for gardeners and landscapers living in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

These native plants include shrubs, small and large trees, and a collection of perennials, all of which have proven to be extremely successful landscape plants in the southeastern United States. The average homeowner will be able to find many of these species in local retail nurseries whether or not these nurseries specialize in native plants.

Gil Nelson has created an indispensable, authoritative publication that describes and recommends high-performing native plants, tells readers how to avoid the use of invasive species in their gardens, and highlights the design of several specialty and wildlife gardens. With the help of regional experts, the included species have been selected based on field visits to retail and wholesale nurseries, private and public gardens and arboreta, personal knowledge and experience, and discussions with landscape and gardening enthusiasts, professionals, and experts throughout the region. The inclusion of more than 600 color photos makes this an easy-to-use, valuable addition to any gardener's library.

"This book is filled to the brim with important information on native plants and is a must for any serious gardener in the southeastern region of the country."--Ginny Stibolt, author of Sustainable Gardening for Florida

"Here is an authoritative, fact-filled guide for growing southeastern native plants from the author who wrote the field guides for identifying our native plants. His experience and knowledge will help us all become better native plant gardeners."--Steven P. Christman, editor, Floridata.com~section~

Grace Gershuny

Feeding the Soil on the Organic Farm. Part of the NOFA guides. Explains the principles and biology of organic composting including the importance of temperature, aeration and moisture control, the use of additives, inoculants and biodynamic preparations. Describes the finished product, how to determine its quality as well as its application on the farm. Discuses costs involved. Includes recipes for compost tea and other brewed mirobial cultures. >~section~

Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden
by: Rhonda Massingham Hart & Jim Wilson
From nibbling on fruit bushes to destroying flower beds, unwanted deer pose a frustrating and challenging obstacle to even the most patient gardeners. Rhonda Massingham Hart provides insights into deer behavior and offers a variety of proven techniques to keep your deer problem under control. Learn how to choose the best fence types, landscape with plants deer detest, make effective homemade repellents, and much more. You’ll have all the information you need to maintain a pristine, deer-free landscape. ~section~

Whitney Cranshaw

This is the most comprehensive and user-friendly guide to the common insects and mites affecting yard and garden plants in North America. In a manner no previous book has come close to achieving, through full-color photos and concise, clear, scientifically accurate text, it describes the vast majority of species. Covering all of the continental United States and Canada, this is the definitive one-volume resource for amateur gardeners, insect lovers, and professional entomologists alike! >~section~

Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects
by: The Xerces Society
Welcome the world’s most exquisite visitors to your garden! Gardening for Butterflies, by the experts at the Xerces Society, introduces you to a variety of colorful garden guests who need our help, and shows you how to design a habitat where they will thrive. This optimistic call to arms is packed with everything you need to create a beautiful, beneficial, butterfly-filled garden. Gardeners will learn why butterflies matter, why they are in danger, and what simple steps we can take to make a difference. You'll learn how to choose the right plants, how to design a butterfly-friendly garden, and how to create a garden that flutters and flourishes with life.~section~

<="gallery-img"> Ross Conrad Natural Beekeeping offers a holistic, sensible alternative to conventional chemical practices with a program of natural hive management. Ross suggests the best "do no harm" strategies for controlling mites, eliminating American foulbrood disease (without the use of antibiotics,) breeding strategies, and many other tips and techniques for maintaining healthy hives. >~section~

Sustainable Gardening for the Southeast
By: Susan M. Varlamoff

While issues such as climate change, pollution, and water shortages become increasingly difficult to ignore, the movement toward sustainability continues to grow. Even though most gardeners are attuned to nature, some common processes of garden maintenance can take a toll on the environment.

Sustainable Gardening for the Southeast is a vividly illustrated guide that offers simple techniques to help conserve water, reduce pollutants, and mitigate climate change while increasing biodiversity and attracting pollinators and wildlife. Gardeners will be inspired and empowered to protect and enhance the local ecology as they cultivate a resilient landscape featuring native plants, colorful flowers and trees, and even organically grown fruits and vegetables. And for those who cherish their emerald lawns, Susan Varlamoff provides tips for keeping it green and environmentally sound.

Gardeners in the Southeast—whether amateurs or professional landscapers—who want to implement sustainable strategies will find this book the ultimate resource for cultivating a garden that gives back to the earth.

“A timely, accessible guide to responsible landscaping that convincingly explains how and why our home landscapes must participate in local ecosystems.”—Douglas Tallamy, coauthor of The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden

“By explaining the importance of individual decisions, presenting relevant facts, sharing personal experience, and providing specific strategies, Varlamoff inspires readers to transform their yards into planet-friendly landscapes.”—Lucy Bradley, coauthor of Earth-Friendly Desert Gardening

“Captures in clear, easy-to-understand language how our gardening choices impact the environment—from water to soil to the creatures that inhabit them.”—Linda Nelson, president, National Garden Clubs, Inc.~section~

ary Appelhof

A new edition of the definitive guide to vermicomposting--a process using redworms to recycle human food waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer for plants. Author Mary Appelhof provides complete illustrated instructions on setting up and maintaining small-scale worm composting systems. Internationally recognized as an authority on vermicomposting, Appelhof has worked with worms for over three decades. Topics include: bin types, worm species, reproduction, care and feeding of worms, harvesting, and how to make the finished product.>~section~