Planting Noah’s Garden: Further Adventures in Backyard Ecology

Author(s): Sara Bonnett Stein

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company;

Hardcover: 464 pages

ISBN: 0395709601

ISBN-13: 978-0395709603

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Sarah Stein’s brilliant book Noah’s Garden placed the author at the forefront of the new field of ecological gardening. Now, in Planting Noah’s Garden, she tells the even more fascinating story of the many ways people in all parts of the country are redesigning their surroundings to welcome back the birds, butterflies, fireflies, and other creatures driven away by the sterility of the typical suburban landscape. In the second half of the book she offers specific information readers will find nowhere else: how to learn the common flora of your region; how to handle group wholesale orders; how to kill invasive plants; how to collect and plant wild seeds; how to start a tree island; how to plan a patio habitat – and much, much more. Planting Noah’s Garden is both a call to action and a blueprint for a new gardening aesthetic.

Nature and Ecology Editor’s Recommended Book, 08/01/97
In Noah’s Garden, published in 1994, gardener and writer Sara Stein addressed the business of making a messy backyard–of restoring a naturally chaotic and dynamic floral-faunal-microbial system in the place of neatly tended, carefully selected and weeded, and ultimately artificial gardens. Just as charmingly written as its predecessor, Planting Noah’s Garden furthers Stein’s campaign to make lawns animated, full of disorder, life, and wildness. Studded with ringing tributes to alumroot, trillium, goldenrod, bellworts, and mayflowers, this is a lovely gardener’s manifesto. Packed with practical instructions for planning and maintaining a garden of one’s own, it’s also wonderful entertainment for anyone with a green thumb.

Fine Gardening
Stein’s radical approach was never destined for everyone. But for those who may want to follow her lead, Planting Noah’s Garden provides a wealth of how-to detail for reestablishing a natural landscape, inviting the rest of us to contemplate–and implement–a real compromise between Stein’s ungardening and our suburbs’ unyieldingness.

70 color photos. 100 illustrations.

Going Native (Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guide)

Author(s): Janet Marinelli (Editor)

Publisher: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Paperback: 112 pages

ISBN: 0945352859

ISBN-13: 978-0945352853

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Going Native : Biodiversity in Our Own Backyards Paperback 112 pages August 1995

The Wild Lawn Handbook: Alternatives to the Traditional Front Lawn

Author(s): Stevie Daniels

Publisher: MacMillan General Reference

Hardcover: 240 pages

ISBN: 0025294458

ISBN-13: 978-0025294455

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Native grasses, wildflowers, ground covers, and moss are Daniels’ answer to monotonous single-species turfgrass lawns. Her book is a primer for gardeners who want to reduce or stop using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, conserve water, or turn their yards into a collection of plants that attracts birds, butterflies, and other wildlife.

There are detailed instructions on choosing a wild lawn and on installing and maintaining the lawn, and even a chapter on landscaping ordinances. Daniels divides the wild lawns into chapters on prairies and native grasses, meadows, moss lawns, woodlands, ground covers, and front-yard gardens. The result is little need for polluting fertilizers and demanding watering regimens–and you won’t have to mow ever again. This comprehensive book includes 16 color photographs. George Cohen

Book Description
The Wild Lawn Handbook is the definitive guide to transforming the traditional grass lawn into a beautiful alternative lawn using native grasses, ferns, mosses, wildflowers, low-growing shrubs, and perennials. In the last few years, there has been a media outcry to raise the publics awareness of the toxicity and water-wasting nature of the American lawn, making wild lawns one of todays hottest gardening topics. This is the first comprehensive book to show you the way step-by-step. If you are unsure of the consequences…youll be convinced when you see the beautiful alternatives in a portfolio of color photography in the center of the book and the fat lists of sources and support material in the back.

The Basics of Permaculture Design [Illustrated]

Author(s): Ross Mars

Publisher: Permaculture Resources

Paperback: 170 pages

ISBN: 0958762619

ISBN-13: 978-0958762618

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The Basics of Permaculture Design

Paperback
Publication date: June 1996

Texas Trees: A Friendly Guide

Author(s): Patty Leslie, Paul W. Cox

Publisher: Corona Publishers

Paperback: 374 pages

ISBN: 0931722675

ISBN-13: 978-0931722677

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At last, an authoritative guide that is also readable; one that shows the trees’ relation to human and animal life — even in the charming illustrations. Includes leaf-shape guide, range maps, and an index of popular and scientific names for over 120 trees, both native and naturalized.

About the Author

Botanist Paul Cox is supervisor of the San Antonio Botanical Center. patty Leslie is the Center’s horticulturist in charge of native plant areas.

Trees of Central Texas

Author(s): Robert A. Vines

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Paperback: 423 pages

ISBN: 0292780583

ISBN-13: 978-0292780583

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A comprehensive and compact field guide, Trees of Central Texas introduces 186 species of tree life in Central Texas, an area roughly the region of the Edwards Plateau and bordered by the Balcones Escarpment on the south and east, the Pecos River on the west, and the Texas Plains and the Llano Uplift on the north. From the hardy oaks and rugged mesquites to the graceful willows, cottonwoods, and pecans, the tree life of Central Texas varies as much as the vast and changing land that hosts it. Full descriptions and superb illustrations of all the native and naturalized trees of the region as well as fascinating bits of history and lore make this an essential guide to the wealth of tree life in Central Texas. Drawn from Robert A. Vines’ monumental Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of the Southwest (University of Texas Press, Trees of Central Texas combines the essential detail of the larger work with the ease and convenience of a field guide. It joins in print two additional field guides by Robert Vines, both published by the University of Texas Press: Trees of East Texas and Trees of North Texas.

Planning for Biodiversity: Issues and Examples

Author(s): Sheila Peck

Publisher: Island Press

Paperback: 232 pages

ISBN: 1559634014

ISBN-13: 978-1559634014

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A significant consequence of the development of natural landscapes is habitat loss and fragmentation that results in widespread loss of biological diversity. While scientists have made great strides in determining principles and concepts fundamental to preserving biodiversity, their work will have little impact unless it is understood and implemented by those who are making on-the-ground decisions about land use.”Planning for Biodiversity” provides an accessible introduction to ecological concepts for planning professionals and students. Sheila Peck explains why planners should be concerned with habitat preservation and presents practical approaches to incorporating conservation principles into planning efforts. The book.introduces a clear framework for understanding biodiversity explains concepts related to ecosystem structure and function discusses the effects of size and connectivity on habitat quality and species movement suggests conservation priorities at different scales presents elements of reserve design examines types and sources of information considers the causes of uncertainty in biodiversity planning and the need for monitoring and adaptive management.In each chapter, Peck presents case studies that explore the practical implications of the concepts examined, and provides contact information for each group involved in the case. Case studies include the Beaverhead/Deerlodge National Forest, Montana; Pinhook Swamp Linkage, northeastern Florida; National Gap Analysis Program; CALFED Bay-Delta Program, California; and numerous others. In addition, she includes planning guidelines which summarize the main points of the chapters, and a useful glossary of ecologicalterms.”Planning for Biodiversity” synthesizes and explains important ecological concepts and represents the first guide for planners that clearly details how to incorporate conservation plans into their work. Planners, landscape architects and designers, planning and design students, developers, local officials, and anyone interested in designing and developing more ecologically sound land-use projects will find the book an invaluable resource.