| Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens |
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| Recurring Features - Book Reviews |
| Written by Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp |
| Monday, 31 December 2007 07:38 |
 by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2007, Timber Press, $27.95, hard cover Doug Tallamy, professor and chairman of the department of entomology and wildlife ecology at the University of Delaware, explores the relationship between insects and plants, noting that without the six-legged creatures, all higher life forms would cease to exist. Through extensive research, he confirms the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife. Because the insects that maintain our environment are hard-wired to feed or lay eggs on native plants, they are as dependent on their natural habitat for survival as deer and bears are on theirs. Suburban sprawl coupled with poor landscaping techniques have disrupted the habitats of native insects along with larger wildlife. Tallamy encourages suburban dwellers to surrender parts of their lawns to concentrations of native trees, shrubs and perennials in beds or borders. “Create large and more densely planted gardens than you may have maintained in the past. This more heavily planted landscape is indeed likely to contrast with the stark and barren lawns of your neighbors, but it will not be less attractive.” He recommends plants for various regions and makes suggestions on how to use them for the greatest effect. He also tells us which plants attract which insects. “We can each make a measurable difference almost immediately by planting a native nearby. As gardeners and stewards of our land, we have never been so empowered and the ecological stakes have never been so high.”
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