The Midwest Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden (Paperback)

Staff Reviews

This book is a very useful  introduction to adding garden worthy native trees, shrubs, vines, and perennials to your Midwest landscape.  It includes an essay on the advantages of native plants, as well as tips for picking plants and designing with them. The bulk of the book is an illustrated  list of plants to choose from. The author uses the common names (the Latin is also given)  and no US hardiness zone, but gardeners in southeast Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio can assume that, some soil conditions excepted, they can successfully grow all of these. His sense of humor and honesty remind me of legendary garden writer Allan Armitage. I loved this description of the swamp white oak: "the darling of city foresters in urban-damaged soils." Yes, that's the tree planted in front of Literati after others failed to survive. My neighborhood sidewalks  are shaded by the Kentucky coffee tree, a dinosaur  whose bark is "probably a protective armor for "long-extinct ground sloths." What the author fails to mention is its relentless suckering, its lateness at leafing out, and the giant seed pods that fall on your head.  I have planted and sometimes killed the majority of the perennials that he recommends. When I had tall coreopsis I had flocks of goldfinches, but also-once they found them-annual flocks of aphids. And when the author tells you that a plant is aggressive, believe him the first time. It took me five years to remove  non-native running bamboo from my yard: the running native pipevine will go down with the house. On the other hand, I would not be without yucca, butterfly weed ( there is always a short-lived  milkweed bug visit in the fall that I actually enjoy-no harm done)  maidenhair fern, marsh-marigold, virginia bluebells, wood poppies, and dozens of other natives. Get this book and go visit the new Belle Isle Piet Oudolf designed garden this spring to see a naturalistic planting that uses many (but not all) native plants.