I forgot this superb book on landscaping with native plants.

- Diekelmann, John. 2002. Natural Landscaping: Designing with Native Plant Communities. University of Wisconsin Press, 320 pages.

The Diekelmann book really got me committed to natural landscaping. I only have the newest Cullina book, and it's great, so the other two are now on my wishlist.

You wont be disappointed by the other two. I will also order another book that seems very interesting but that is not available for me now.

Tallamy, Douglas. W. 2007. Bringing nature home; How native plants sustain wildlife in our gardens.

I have the Douglas Tallamy book. Very good - I definitely learned a few things.

Cullina's books are always great - top notch research, writing and photos.

There are a few other books that I own and need to be talked about.

Darke, Rick. 2002. The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest. Timber Press, 378 pages.

Do you know this book also?

I have the Diekelman book. Its good, I refer to other people frequently.

The other required reading for native gardens IMO, is Noah's Garden by Sara Stein

Yes I also own this one. They have another one in the same serie:

Planting Noah's garden by Sara Stein.

P.S. What means IMO?

IMO = "in my opinion"

I personally did not find much in Sara Stein's books to interest me.

"I personally did not find much in Sara Stein's books to interest me.",

Really, I find that surprising. Most people, including myself, love her books, mainly for inspiration. She confirmed a lot of my thoughts and feelings about native landscaping by putting them in a book.

Her book is less about "what" and "how" and is more about "why"... to go native.

"Her book is less about "what" and "how" and is more about "why"... to go native."

I agree with you joepyeweed. I like her books because they give reasons why we should use native plants.

Noah's garden is more about why we should use native plants and Planting Noah's garden, more about what and how you should plant.

Perhaps it is because I wasn't interested at that time in the "why" (I was already convinced!) and was looking for the what and the how.

So I guess it was the wrong time for me to be reading it ... I should've read it much earlier!

But I'm glad it inspires other people ... everyone should have inspiration.

As an old timer who's been gardening with native plants for over 40 years, Sara Stein's book is good inspiration for a beginner, but I long ago passed her by. One of the best books I've found is Hal Bruce's `"How to grow wildflowers shrubs and trees in your garden", Unfortuneately he died young and it's the only book he wrote. Aside from more conventional books on growing wildflowers tis was THE book 32 years ago when it was published. Cullina's books and Darke's book are great and I have them, I am not familiar with Diekelman's book

Cullina's books are beautifully written, both lyrical and informative. The photos, which are ones he takes, are very nice and sometimes exceptional. Each genus gets a couple of photos, but not every species. If you want to grow natives from seeds these are a great resource.

If you're in the Northeast and want one book, I like Donald J. Leopold's "Native Plants of the Northeast" by Timber Press. (Timberpress has many good nature titles) It has very good representative selections of the most common native ferns, grasses, wildflowers, vines, shrubs, and trees. It has good clear photos and simple description and attributes. I'd recommend it as a first native plant book.

The Diekelmann book is more about designing a landscape plan using native plants...its less about how to grow specific plants. It has lots of pictures, some nice landscape layout drawings. Its probably more for beginners also.

And I tend to check books out from library rather than buying them. If I find myself wanting to refer back to a book, again and again, then I will buy it.

Check out Sally Wasowski - she's written several how to books on native gardens.

She's a native Texan so her books have a greater audience -some detail Native Gardening in the lower plains and southwest; the one I have is primarily for those gardening in the midwest.

But this thread has given me some more names to look for at the bookstore.

And yes, when I first read Sarah Stein's book Noah's garden, I found it to be very insprirational and still refer to it every so often.

As you'll guess from the length of this post, this is something I'm very interested in.

I want to point out that "Noah's Garden" is very easy and entertaining to read. I'd seen it recommended on one of the forums here and expected something very different. That book is what made me try giving various volunteers in my yard a chance to grow so I can see what they are, which is something I really enjoy. I've gotten plants this way I never expected to see come in on their own here in the older suburb I live in. I've also asked a few people to read this book as a way to help them understand why native plants, habitat gardening, and the avoidance of invasive plants is so important.

One major advantage I found with the Cullina books (haven't read the latest one yet, assume it's the same), is a logical layout and good index. I though some of the other books mentioned here were interesting to read, but then not as useful to use as a reference.

I have the "American Woodland Garden" and found it very useful. Before I read it, I wasn't really concentrating on the middle layer. This book also gave me ideas of what types of plantings would give me garden the feel I wanted it to have. The photographs were very inspiring, and at the same time gave me ideas I could use here.

I'll mention one other book which I think would be useful for people interested in habitat gardening also, which I think is true of many native plant gardeners. "American Wildlife and Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits" by Frances A. Davis, A. C. Martin, and Herbert S. Zim gives an idea of the comparitive usefulness of the plants for various birds and small mammals. It can also be used to see which plants are the favorite of a particular animal.

I haven't seen the book by Leopold or by Bruce, so I have a couple more books to check out based on this thread. I was already planning to read the book by Tallamy.

No more interesting books? I am eagerly waiting for Tallamy's book Bringing nature home. It's been two weeks since I ordered and nothing since.

Andy Wasowski's "Landscaping Revolution" really got me started on native gardening many years ago. He and Sally have several books and I recommend all of the ones I've read. "Gardening with Prairie Plants" was a great resource for me here in the arid midwest.

I admit I'm an addictive plant book collector and just went to my shelves to see what I had on natives. What I found interesting is that I don't have any books specific to woodland natives, except for some that includes them and some that are about shade but not exclusive to natives. I have lots on prairie plants however. I really need to catalog my books someday - not during planting season though!

In addition to the Diekelmann book, these are some of my native gardening books in no particular order:

Gardening with Wildflowers and Native Plants published by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record 1989.
-a little book of collected articles, still relevant.

Jones, Samuel B. and Foote, Leonard E. 1990. Gardening with Native Wild Flowers. Timber Press. 195 pgs.
-My first native plant book, and still one of the best.

Ladd, Doug and Oberle, Frank. 2005. Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers. Morris Book Publishing. 263 pgs.
-a very good field guide with excellent photos.
Plants grouped by color.

Johnson, Lorraine. 1998. Grow Wild!:Native Plant Gardening in Canada. Denise Schon Books. 154 pgs.
-Lorraine Johnson is to Canada what Bill Cullina is to
the US. A very useful book from coast to coast.

Smith, J. Robert. 1980. The Prairie Garden: 70 Native Plants You Can Grow in Town or Country. University of Wisconsin Press. 219 pgs.
-charts for habitat, color, and bloom times

Wasowski, Sally. 2002. Gardening with Prairie Plants. University of Minnesota Press. 285 pgs.
-I consider this the essential book for prairie gardens.

Sternberg, Gus and Wilson, Jim. 1995. Landscaping with Native Trees. Chapters Publishing. 288 pgs.
-Often we forget about planting native trees. Good info.

Daniels, Stevie. 1995. The Wild Lawn Handbook: Alternatives to the Traditional Front Lawn. Macmillan. 223 pgs.
-My first book on banning the bluegrass! Funny I live
in Kentucky now.

Also several local native plant guides and books on planting natives for wildlife habitat. And books on "natural" gardening that showcase natives but include some exotics, I'm thinking of the Druse books in particular. I'm going to have to pick up some of the books you have mentioned. And then get around to cataloging and organizing my library!