Bringing Nature Home : How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, Updated and Expanded

In Bringing Nature Home, Doug Tallamy encourages the use of native plants in gardening. This book asks and answers questions for modern gardeners inclined to good stewardship. How can we adjust our planting palette to be both beautiful and envitonmentally useful? How much more does a local oak species contribute to habitat richness then an out-of-ecological-context exotic tree? What do violets and fritillary butterflies, or pawpaws and zebra swallowtails have in common? Where might tomorrow's species come from? Read more... Abstract: As development and subsequent habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. This title offers a national conversation about the link between healthy local ecosystems and human well-being and helps broaden the movement. Read more... ?If you cut down the goldenrod, the wild black cherry, the milkweed and other natives, you eliminate the larvae, and starve the birds. This simple revelation about the food web--and it is an intricate web, not a chain--is the driving force in Bringing Nature Home.? --The New York Times As development and subsequent habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. But there is an important and simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity. There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife--native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. In many parts of the world, habitat destruction has been so extensive that local wildlife is in crisis and may be headed toward extinction. 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 “With the twinned calamities of climate change and mass extinction weighing heavier and heavier on my nature-besotted soul, here were concrete, affordable actions that I could take, that anyone could take, to help our wild neighbors thrive in the built human environment. And it all starts with nothing more than a seed. Bringing Nature Home is a miracle: a book that summons butterflies.'—Margaret Renkl, The Washington Post As development and habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. In his groundbreaking book Bringing Nature Home, Douglas W. Tallamy reveals the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. Luckily, there is an important and simple step we can all take to help reverse this alarming trend: everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity by simply choosing native plants. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical and achievable recommendations, we can all make a difference. As development and subsequent habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. But there is an important and simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity. There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife; native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. In many parts of the world, habitat destruction has been so extensive that local wildlife is in crisis and may be headed toward extinction. 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... A fascinating study of the trees, shrubs, and vines that feed the insects, birds, and other animals in the suburban garden. The New York Times #160; As development and habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. In#160; Bringing Nature Home , Douglas W. Tallamy reveals the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlifenative insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. #160; But there is an important and simple step we can all take to help reverse this alarming trend: everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity by simply choosing native plants. By acting on Douglas Tallamy#39;s practical and achievable recommendations, we can all make a difference. #160 Content: Restoring natives to suburbia: a call to action -- The vital new role of the suburban garden -- No place to hide -- Who cares about biodiversity? -- Why can't insects eat alien plants? -- What is native and what is not? -- The costs of using alien ornamentals -- Creating balanced communities -- Gardening for insect diversity -- Blending in with the neighbors -- Making it happen -- What should I plant? -- What does bird food look like? -- Answers to tough questions. Now with expanded content and plant lists for regional habitats, Bringing Nature Home offer the insight needed for home gardeners to become backyard ecologists