By Alan Branhagen 

• Publisher: Timber Press, July 2020 

• Paperback‏:‎ 256 pages 

• ISBN-10: 160469992 

• Dimensions: 8” X 9” 

• Price: $35.74 (Amazon.ca); $19.42 (Amazon.com – currently a 22% discount) 

At first glance, Branhagen’s The Midwest Native Plant Primer looks like a great book for native plant gardeners. It has almost 45 pages in the introduction alone that covers topics like Why Cultivate Native Plants, and goes into some detail on what defines the Midwest, looking at the various habitats (grasslands, forests). And it is chock full of beautiful photos.  

There’s a whole chapter on selecting native plants – how to choose your plant and what to avoid (i.e. right plant, wrong place), with a short section on gardening for birds and one on gardening for butterflies. He talks about the aesthetics of native plants in the garden (form, colour, fragrance, etc.), then devotes a chapter to Designing with Native Plants. 

With lots of beautiful photographs and some great information in the lengthy introductory section, at one time I would likely have found this book delightful. But maybe my collection of books on native plant gardening is just getting too big. I found that the actual plant information is quite limited so it is unclear who its target market is or even what the overall purpose is. This book might make a great introductory book to native plants, but there are several overview books in print already and this one doesn’t really offer anything new. What’s worse, it misses out in a number of areas to be of any great value to a native plant gardener. 

For starters, by the author’s own admission the “Midwest” is a very large region and he states that plants that do well in one area may not even survive in another, yet nowhere does the author let the reader know where any of the suggested plants will survive, let alone thrive. The need for accurate range maps is crucial for native plant gardeners who, more so than other gardeners, want to know what is native to their location. 

The next issue is the alphabetization of the plants by common name. As with other books that use this strategy, the fact that there are often many common names for a plant, but typically only one currently accepted scientific name, means that locating a plant of interest in this book can be a challenge. For instance, I searched the index high and low for Wild Columbine, then for Wild Red Columbine, then Red Columbine and even just Columbine – all names that I am familiar with – but none of these were in the index. Fortunately I knew the scientific name was Aquilegia canadensis and could look that up, only to discover the plant was listed as Eastern Red Columbine. No wonder I couldn’t locate it. Another advantage of listing by scientific names is that similar plants (i.e. plants of the same genus) will be grouped together. For example, the milkweeds (Asclepias) will be grouped in one area, the goldenrods (Solidago), in another, etc.  

This book does group the plants into the following separate sections: trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and perennials and vines, but within each grouping you need to know the sometimes very locally-known common name to find it. 

I do appreciate the attempt at colour coding each of the sections of the book with a different coloured bar at the top of the pages. However, a greater differentiation of colours might have made separating the sections easier – they are all shades of purple and telling where the section on shrubs ends and the one on groundcovers begins, for example, is almost impossible.  

I did have one problem with the section on ground covers, though. It is rather confusing when it includes things like Chasmanthium latifolium (called river oats in the book, but more commonly known as northern sea oats) which grows up to 3′ high, or Phlox paniculata (garden phlox) which often grows 4′ tall. Not what I would think of as ground covers. 

Even more confusing, though, is the entry for Bugbane (Cimicifuga racemosa) – known more commonly as Black Cohosh, Black Baneberry, Black Snakeroot, or even as Squawroot in some regions. For starters, Bugbane is normally reserved for the species Actaea simplex (formerly Cimicifuga simplex), a native of Russia and China. In addition, most sources now accept the genus name Actaea rather than the older Cimicifuga for this plant. And there are lots more similar examples in the book. 

And although there are lots of beautiful photos in the book, they are only somewhat useful to help you identify the plants, as they typically show a photo of the overall plant without much detail. As a result, they don’t help you a lot in identifying whether the plant you have is what is shown in the book. And in some cases, as with Eurybia macrophylla, or large leaf aster, they don’t even show a picture of the flowers, just of the leaves. 

Finally, the most confusing part of the book has to be the fact that the author mentions both USDA plant hardiness zones and AHS (American Horticultural Society) heat zones in the introduction AND in a table at the back of the book. However, since he does not provide the relevant ranges for any of the plants in the plant descriptions, I’m not sure why this information is even in the book. This seems to be a major oversight.  

Some of these oversights and problems may not be soley the author’s fault. I have talked to other authors who have published with Timber Press who told me the publisher left out what the author believed were important parts, simply to save money.  

All in all, this is a pleasant book to look through, especially if you are new to native plant gardening and just want an introduction to the topic. And since you can never have TOO MANY books on the topic, this might make a good addition to your collection. Especially if you live in an area that might be considered part of the Midwest. But for me the book was rather disappointing. 

By The Xerces Society (E. Mader, M. Shepherd, M. Vaughan, S.H. Black and G. LeBuhn)

• Publisher: Storey Publishing, 2011
• Paperback‏:‎ 384 pages
• ISBN-10: 1603426957
• Dimensions: 7” X 10”
• Price: $30.37 (Amazon.ca – currently a 20% discount); $16.49 (Amazon.com – currently a 45% discount)

Consider me suitably impressed. I received this book as a Christmas present last year, glanced through it and thought it looked interesting, but then shelved it till I had time to read it. Ten months later I pulled it off the shelf – not because I was that keen to read it, but because I wanted to do this book review and this seemed as good a book as any to review. Well, was I surprised. This is not only a good read, but it is chock full of fantastic information and loads of great photographs.

The book is divided into four sections: Pollinators and Pollination; Taking Action; Bees of North America; and Creating Pollinator Friendly Landscapes. I will hit what I think are the highlights (and a couple of drawbacks) of the book.

Part 1 – Pollinators and Pollination

This 85 page section covers the science of how pollination works, and covers a host of pollinators – from bees to flies to moths and butterflies to beetles. It discusses how each group goes about their business and provides lots of examples (with great photos) of the various insects. It wraps up the section discussing the various threats to these pollinators – from habitat destruction to climate change – and the implications of this.

Part 2 – Taking Action

This is a long (128 page) section that covers A LOT of territory. It starts off discussing strategies we can use to help pollinators (hint – a high diversity of pollen producing plants!) and then goes into managing your pollinator habitat. On page 95, there’s an inset that lists key things to consider when providing foraging habitat: start small; provide a succession of blooms; grow a variety of pollen and nectar rich species; native plants are better; and, if possible, don’t use pesticides.

Following this is a section discussing habitat design, including nesting and egg laying sites and how to build a nest block for native bees.

There is also a section on community (and school) gardens including regional (US and southern Canada) native plant lists. (They also include a list of some non-natives that they recommend.)

Part 2 wraps up with a very lengthy discussion on bee-friendly farm management, golf courses and urban green spaces, natural areas and even a bit about green roofs.

Part 3 – Bees of North America

Part 3 has an introduction to the science and study of bees, including bee anatomy, bees vs flower flies, etc. then goes into detail on 32 genera of native bees plus the honeybee. Each bee gets a full page description that covers identification, similar insects, foraging, nests and conservation concerns. There is a photo of the bee plus a silhouette of the bee showing its actual size and a paragraph entitled “Did You Know?” that covers something interesting about the species.

Yet despite all this great info, this is the one part of the book that I have the biggest complaint about. With 4,000 species of bees in North America, this is just a very small sampling at the genus level (not the species level) so beyond being interesting reading, it’s not very helpful in the garden when I’m trying to figure out which bee I’m looking at. A much better book for this, in my opinion, is Common Bees of Eastern North America by O.M Carril and J.S. Wilson (Princeton University Press, 2021) – there’s also a version for Western North America.

Part 4 – Creating a Pollinator-Friendly Landscape

This section starts with a few pages of generic garden design samples but then provides yet a third group of “regional plant lists” with a different selection of species than the last two. It’s as if the different sections were written by individual authors, then brought together with little thought about combining these tables into a master table in the appendix (probably could have saved a few pages in the printing). This set of lists, again, ALSO includes a list of non-natives deemed suitable.

The book then has a section listing details (including a photo) for a number of the plants highlighting light, moisture, bloom time, flower colour, height, region(s) and then a very short paragraph about the plant. These are listed in alphabetic order by common name (problematic if your part of the country calls a plant by a different common name than mine!).

Of the 38 plants listed, only 26 are native to the Great Lakes region where I live. There are also 27 species of trees and shrubs, of which only 12 are native here. And there are a number of non-natives listed, too.

The final section of Part 4 lists the host plants for a number of butterflies with a sampling of photos for some of the butterfly species.

Summary

All in all, I think this book would be a great addition to any native-plant-gardener’s library. I now wish I had started reading it last winter when I first got it as it is chock full of really interesting information.

Happy native plant growing.

By June Flanagan

· Publisher: Fifth House Books, (2005)

· Paperback: 208 pages

· ISBN-10: 1391894856

· Dimensions: 9” X 9”

· Price: $33.21 (Amazon.ca); $10.91 (used, on Amazon.com)

Note: This review is adapted and expanded from the one I posted to Amazon after purchasing the book in 2017.

The title is a bit misleading. I was expecting more of a field guide to plants suitable for gardening. Instead, the book is more about acquiring, planting and growing the native species. It contains very few pictures – mostly text. I probably would have called the book “Gardening with Native Prairie Plants” because what you get is a well thought out treatise on that topic.

The book starts with definitions of prairie, then lists the plants for various uses in the garden (colour, xeriscaping, shade, winter interest, etc.). The chapter on acquiring native plants differentiates between garden center sources (true native plants vs cultivars) and gathering your own seed – including a section on storing your seeds.

The author talks about adding organic matter to help your gardens, and this may be necessary for her region, but in southern Ontario my experience has been that adding organic matter only makes your plants tall and “leggy” and prone to falling over. They are quite capable of finding all the nutrients they need with their deep roots.

There is a chapter on plant propagation that is quite good, but if you are serious about this aspect, I highly recommend you also get The Tallgrass Prairie Center Guide to Seed and Seedling Identification in the Upper Midwest (see my book review from Nov 24, 2023).

In the final chapter (which is slightly more than half the book) the author identifies a number of wildflowers, grasses and woody plants, and includes a table on the blooming period of the plants. Each plant is well described, with one (albeit very good) photo of each plant, and lots of interesting information. The area the book covers is the upper Midwest of the US and the southern Prairie provinces in Canada – all points west of Lake Michigan and Ontario and although most of the plants listed are not native to my southern Great Lakes region, a few are. But that is not the strength of this little book. What I liked about the book is contained in the first half – the parts about using the plants in your garden.

If you are in the southern Great Lakes region, this book may not offer enough for you, but it’s a great read and I believe it was worth adding to my collection.

Happy Native Plant Gardening.

© The Native Plant Gardener 2024

Book by Jaret C Daniels 

• Publisher: ‎Adventure Publications, 2020 
• Paperback‏:‎ 276 pages 
• ISBN-10: 1591939410 
• Dimensions: 8” X 10” 
• Price: $36.59 (Amazon.ca – note, this book is available on Kindle for $16.32); $16.49 (Amazon.com) 

This is, indeed, a beautiful book to add to your collection. The photos are large, sharp and nicely laid out. A brief description of each plant, including its bloom period and its growing conditions, and which groups of insects it’s important to make this book stand out.  

The interesting tables at both the beginning and end of the book are helpful as well. The tables at the front summarize the information on the plant pages, while at the back of the book, tables show which plants are suitable as bird food and or for nesting, and which are good hummingbird plants. Finally there is a section called Larval Host List. All great and useful ideas. But I struggle with 3 things in particular about the book (four, if you count the lack of an index). 
 
The first problem is its organizational scheme – plants are grouped by light requirements: full sun, full sun to partial shade, and partial shade to full shade. In theory this sounds great. Unfortunately, many native plants don’t fall neatly into one of the categories. For instance, another book I recently reviewed on Amazon.ca lists Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine) as a full sun plant. This book puts it into the part shade to full shade section. In fact, both are right as it will do just fine in all the categories. But what exacerbates the problem with this book is that there is no index, so if you want to look up a particular plant, you have to figure out WHERE the author thinks it grows. 
 
The second problem (again, no index makes it worse) is that the book lists the plants in each section in alphabetic order by common name. Using Aquilegia canadensis again as my example, the author calls it Red Columbine, whereas most folk I know call it wild columbine, but it is also known as Canadian columbine, common American columbine, Jack-in-trousers, rock lily, and even as cluckies, depending on where you’re from. This is why native plant gardeners in particular often prefer scientific names. It took me a while to find this plant’s listing in the book because I’ve never known it as red columbine. To be fair, the author is an entomologist (bug person) not a botanist (plant person) so perhaps he was unaware that native plant names can be so different depending on where you live. 
 
My final (and a somewhat minor) complaint is in what otherwise appears to be a useful introduction – under the heading Improving the Soil. Unless you are planting into an abandoned quarry or gravel pit, you probably should not add compost or animal manure as the author recommends. Native plants have evolved the ability to extract nutrients and moisture from deep in the soil profile, and fertilizing them just tends to make the plants tall, leggy and weak-stemmed (I speak from experience, as I made this mistake with the first flower bed I planted with native species – and it took years to use up the excess nutrients in the soil). 
 
However, despite my complaints about the book, I am happy to keep in on my shelf for the sheer beauty of the photography in it. Although it is paperback, I could easily see this as a hard-cover coffee table book, the pictures are that nice. On a snowy winter’s day, it’s a lovely book to browse through while I dream of spring. 

By Dave Williams and Brent Butler 

• Publisher: ‎University od Iowa Press, 2010 
• Paperback‏:‎ 138 pages 
• ISBN-10: 158729902 
• Dimensions: 6.13” X 9.25” 
• Price: $19.21 (Amazon.ca); $14.00 (Amazon.com) 

For the serious grower of Native Plants. And for the beginner, too. If you are growing native tallgrass prairie species in a greenhouse, are winter sowing, or if you just want to know if you should pull that weed or leave it, this book is excellent. The authors grew a number of forbs and grasses in the greenhouse for several weeks and photographed them at various stages. They then point out the key characteristics at each stage of development. They provide photos of the seeds, too. All pictures are clear and unambiguous and the descriptors include germination and growth notes, as well as a section on look-alikes.  

The book is broken down into two main parts – Forbs Identification Guide, and Grasses Identification Guide. The Forbs section is further subdivided into 7 groups based on key characteristics, the Grasses section into 4 groups. The authors state “Associated with each group is a line drawing of a seedling with its most important parts highlighted. Remember those parts, because seedling identification is nothing more than finding them – or not finding them – in a key. Seedlings are therefore grouped by their key characteristics, not by their species or in alphabetical order.” 

This is an excellent guide. And although it is for the Upper Midwest (US), most of the plants are native in the southern Great Lakes Region, too. This should prove to be a very helpful book for anyone doing winter sowing and wondering in the spring if you actually have growing what the label says (speaking from experience, here). 

Happy native plant growing.