Product Description

With the accelerating pace of development and subsequent habitat destruction, the pressures on wildlife populations are greater than ever. But there is a surprisingly important and relatively simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution to sustaining biodiversity.

There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife. Most native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plant species disappear, the insects disappear, thus impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. In many parts of the world, habitat destruction has been so extensive that local wildlife populations are in crisis and may be headed toward extinction. By planting natives, everyone can provide a welcoming environment for wildlife. This doesn't need to entail a drastic overhaul of your yard or garden. The process can be gradual and can reflect both personal preferences and local sensitivities.

Bringing Nature Home has sparked a national conversation about the link between healthy local ecosystems and human well-being, and the new paperback edition -- with an expanded resource section and updated photos -- will help broaden the movement. By acting on Douglas Tallamy’s practical recommendations, everyone can make a difference.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11200 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .2 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

From Booklist
Tallamy takes an obvious observation—wildlife is threatened when suburban development encroaches on once wild lands—and weds it to a novel one: that beneficial insects are being deprived of essential food resources when suburban gardeners exclusively utilize nonnative plant material. Such an imbalance, Tallamy declares, can lead to a weakened food chain that will no longer be able to support birds and other animal life. Once embraced only by members of the counterculture, the idea of gardening with native plants has been landscape design's poor stepchild, thought to involve weeds and other plants too unattractive for pristine suburban enclaves. Not so, says Tallamy, who presents compelling arguments for aesthetically pleasing, ecologically healthy gardening. With nothing less than the future of North American biodiversity at stake, Tallamy imparts an encouraging message: it's not too late to save the ecosystem-sustaining matrix of insects and animals, and the solution is as easy as replacing alien plants with natives. Haggas, Carol

Review

Bringing Nature Home opens our eyes to an environmental problem of staggering proportions. Fortunately, it also shows us how we can help.

(Judy Brinkerhoff Petaluma Argus-Courier )

You can look at this book as a manifesto explaining why we should favor native plants, but it’s much more than that. It’s a plan to sustain the endangered biodiversity and even more, it’s a plan to transform suburbia from an environmental liability to an environmental asset.

(Eco-Libris Blog )

This updated and expanded edition … is a delight to read and a most needed resource."

(Warwick Beacon )

"This book will not only foster a love of the outdoors in all who read it, but also create a deeper understanding and appreciation of the intricate web of wildlife outside your door." (Cabin Life )

"In an area that is as open and wooded as ours, we may not be aware that there is more to the need for natives than concern about invasive species that upset an ecosystem. According to Tallamy, a balanced ecosystem needs more insects.  It is when the balance of the system is disrupted that problems arise." (The Recorder )

"Tallamy's book is a call to arms.  There is not much ordinary citizens can do to create large new preserves.  But we can make better use of the small green spaces we have around our houses.  While the situation in the United States is quite serious, Tallamy offers options that anyone with a garden, even a postage-stamp-sized one like mine, can do to help." (St. Petersburg Times )

"Tallamy makes such a compelling case for the importance of insects to birds that I’ve completely changed the way I garden.  From now on, insect attractors are my first choices." (Birding Business )

"Tallamy illustrates well how gardeners have contributed greatly to tipping the environment off balance and how they are equally able to turn the trend … Plants and insects are integrally intertwined.  Understanding the beauty of these relationships deepens our appreciation of our gardens and the important role we play." (Winston-Salem Journal )

"[It] is the book that is going to change how gardening is conducted over the next century." (Ants, Bees, Birds, Butterflies, Nature Blog )

"Doug Tallamy's book is a gift. It's not the kind of gift wrapped with a pink ribbon and a tiny rose tucked into the bow. It's the kind of gift that shakes you to your core and sets you on the path of healing. Your garden. Your planet. One plant at a time. Open it." (Plant Whatever Brings You Joy Blog )

"Buy, borrow, or steal this book! It is essential reading with ideas that need to become part of our understanding of how life works on this planet."

(Prairie Moon Nursery blog )

"This book is not a rant on nature gardening, nor is it a typical garden design book, or a stuffy academic textbook. The author might be a professor … but he has written a book which is readable, scientific, fascinating, and highly digestible." (Loving Nature's Garden Blog )

"This is the 'it' book in certain gardening circles. It's really struck a nerve."

(Philadelphia Inquirer )

"My book of choice of the year."

(Sally Cunningham Buffalo News )

He combines the passion which many of us have, with the science, and that’s a winning combination. (Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp Indianapolis Star )

“Tallamy explains in beautiful prose the importance of native plants to our wildlife.” (Plain Dealer )

About the Author

Douglas W. Tallamy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities.

Rick Darke is a landscape design consultant and widely published author and photographer focused on regional landscape design. He has received the Scientific Award of the American Horticulture Society, and two of his books, The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses and The American Woodland Garden, have earned book awards. He lives in Landenberg, Pennsylvania.