Books

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~

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

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~

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~

Mary Appelhof

This best-selling guide to the practice of vermicomposting has taught people how to use worms to recycle food waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer for houseplants or gardens. Small-scale, self-contained worm bins can be kept indoors, in a basement, or even under the kitchen sink in an apartment — making vermicomposting a great option for city dwellers and anyone who doesn’t want or can’t have an outdoor compost pile. The fully revised 35th anniversary edition features the original’s same friendly tone, with up-to-date information on the entire process, from building or purchasing a bin (readily available at garden supply stores) to maintaining the worms and harvesting the finished compost.

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~

Grace Gershuny