An escaped variety of Japanese Magnolia? (related to the pawpaws.)

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!

I just pulled the trigger and downloaded Florafolio. What a great app. It has a huge array wildflowers, trees, shrubs and ferns. Tons of pictures and useful information. It is well worth $2.99. If anyone wants to check it out, just click on the accompanying link. Any body know anything about botany buddy? It is pretty expensive. Here is a link that might be useful: florafolio link.

tinasam, I admit that until AlbertoÂs question I had just taken a very quick look at your posting before, since although Georgia and NJ do share quite a few plants in common, I didnÂt think itÂd be that useful to me. I hadnÂt noticed the similarities between your user name and the authorÂs name. Correct me if IÂm wrong, otherwise congratulations on your book! Always good to see another book on the topic! Alberto, youÂve asked a question I definitely care about. I hope other people add to this, but there are some thoughts. I let nurseries I go to know IÂm interested in native plants in the hope theyÂll start carrying moreÂand of course that would make my plant buying much easier. Two things that I remembered from reading about what individual people can do (I donÂt remember where I saw these; maybe it was on one of these forums) are to start writing articles or letters for local papers, and to get involved in local government to get more natives plantings done in public areas. (or write a book on the topic for that matter) I suppose having an absolutely stunning native garden might get more people interested. Sharing native plants from my yard that people like is one definite way to get natives in their yards. I mostly just try to get people interested when I can. IÂm usually focusing even more about the negative effects of invasive plants, and so while IÂm very glad if people become interested in natives, itÂs even more important to me that they know the reasons to avoid invasives. If thereÂs an appropriate opening in conversation IÂll bring up the topics. In terms of invasives, IÂve actually printed out a short handout from the US government that explains the issue that I like because I think it gets the point across quickly and clearly. Depending on somebodyÂs interest during such conversations IÂll just about always offer to supply them with links, and might lend them books and/or offer to research which native plants might work well in their gardens. If somebody is already interested in gardening for wildlife I think pointing out the benefits of using native plants is often much easier for them to see. A book that many people will tell you is inspiring and that I also found very easy and enjoyable to read is "Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards" by Sara Stein. It tells about how she became interested in this and her experiences in it. She was gardening in New York state, but I think the main points would still apply. If you havenÂt read the thread on this forum on "Explaining Why Natives" you might find it interesting. It doesnÂt really address your question, but part of it kind of related. The first half of it had its last post in early September. Good luck making progress. -- Lori