Book List – Native Plants

Roadside Use of Native Plants, ed. Bonnie Harper-Lore, Maggie Wilson, Island Press, Aug 2000. This exceedingly useful book was originally published by The Federal Highway Administration in 1999. It contains a number of Roadside Restoration and Management essays, which are also useful for the private gardener, including ‘Defining What is Native. The major portion of the book contains plant-lists by state, as well as diagrams (again state by state) of potential vegetation zones. Appendices include the 1998 revised policy for wildflowers, and a discussion of 129 plant communities. This will be an invaluable resource for native gardening.

Roadside Weed Management, ed. Bonnie L. Harper-Lore, Maggie Johnson, Mark W. Skinner, US Dep’t of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, 2007. This is a companion volume, with essays on prevention, control methods, roadside restoration, education examples, and also a major section of state laws and lists, together with a section on national weed policies.

Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants, C. Colston Burrell, eds Janet Martinelli and Bonnie Harper-Lore, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, 2006. A listing of invasive plants, with many alternative regional natives. Also contains a number of books of regional natives.

Gardening wwith Native Wild Flowers, Samuel B. Jones and Leonard E. Foote, Timber Press, 1990. Chapters include An Introduction to Native Wild Flowers; Developing a Wild Flower Garden; Propagation; Wild Flowers for Shade, for Sun; Meadows; Grasses, Sedges and Rushes; Ferns and Fern Allies; Groundcovers; and Aquatic and Bog situations. Plants in each chapter are listed alphabetically by scientific name.

Out of Eden, An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion, Alan Burdick, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2005. An enthralling and persuasive discussion of the author’s introduction to the worldwide problem of invasive flora and fauna.

Armitage’s Native Plants for Native Plants for North American Gardens, Allan M. Armitage, Timber Press, 2006. The major portion of this volume is an A-to-Z Gerera. There are also lists for different types of plants, and an index of both botanical and common names.

Native Plants of the Northeast, A Guide for Gardening and Conservation, Donald J. Leopold, Timber Press, 2005 ed. Species descriptions for ferns, grasses, wildflowers, vines, shrubs, and trees, as well as lists for different types of plants.

Wildflowers, A Guide to Growing and Propagating Native Flowers of North America, William Cullina, New England Wild Flower Society, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 2000. The central encyclopedia of plants is a discussion by genus of North American natives, including the provenance of the various species. Included is a chart and discussion of floristic provinces, together with a detailed description of each. This book and the following are delightful bedside reading, in addition to being valuable for their content.

Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines, a guide to using, growing and propagating North American woody plants, William Cullina, New England Wild Flower Society, Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002. A companion piece, of similar format, to Cullina’s Wildflowers, this is equally readable and informative.

 

Contact Helen Pritchard, NGC Horticulture Study Unit Chairman for more information.