Customer Reviews

Go Native!: Gardening with Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I find this a useful book that I refer back to time to time, as I innately trust the author's advice. There is excellent info in here on a plant's propagation/division and planting requirements. I haven't found anything better.

There are problems: 1) I wish it was more exhaustive in the number of plants it covers, although for a primer it picks really good candidates. 2) It commits the common sin of putting the photographs in their own section instead of with the text, substituting nearly useless line drawings next to the text. 3) The book is topically organized -- plants for shade, using ground cover, developing woodland gardens, etc. I find this rather annoying, and I can never find what I want right away. I'm forever referring to the index. 4) It's presented on cheap paper stock in an amateurish paragraph format, with no page divisions for different plants. This makes it needlessly difficult to use as a reference.

In sum, there is a lot of great info in here, enough to recommend it. I just wish the layout was better.

This book was wonderful in describing the various plants that are native to the lower Midwest and which ones (that you would have believed to be native) are not. A must have for persons who would like to create a native yard. A great gardening tool.

This book lists several severely invasive, nonnative species in its table of contents. Euonymus alatus, Berberis thunbergii, and lythrum salicaria are all extremely invasive plants across the country. It is illegal to sell lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) in several states. At least thirty states list it as invasive. Berberis thunbergii, or Japanese barberry is listed by 45 states as a noxious weed. Don't support a book that sells invasive species as native "wildflowers."

I almost did not buy this book because of the 1 star reviews. Fortunately I was able to look more closely at the copy I checked out of the library to see that these reviewers were totally incorrect. The invasives and non-natives they referred to were in the "Outlaw the Outlaws" chapter. I found the book to be thoroughly researched and reviewed by experts - and a charming read!

I do not usually write reviews at Amazon, but I felt compelled to do so after the unfair one-star reviews by people who appear to have not read the book! This is a great resource for gardeners who want to use native plants but are unsure of where to start. I have returned to this book over and over each year for advice, tips, and more ideas for planting native shrubs, trees, and perennials. My dad has been gardening for over fifty years, and he just picked this book off of my coffee table when he was visiting; he couldn't put the book down, and then he kept talking about the ideas and plant species in it for hours later. I just don't understand why someone would write a negative review of a book without having read it. The invasive, non-native plants are listed in the book as things to avoid, not as recommendations for planting.

Invasive plants are an increasingly big problem in the US costing tax payers millions of dollars. I'm not too thrilled with a book titled "Go Native!" that appears to be promoting exotic invasive species of any type in a North American Landscape... but then the author's title did additionally state ":Gardening With Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest". Many people assume all wildflowers are native plants. This is simply not true. Many wildflowers are extremely undesirable invasive plants that have naturalized and are wreaking havoc in our environment. Native plants don't naturalize because they belong in the environment in which they occur. The term naturalized is almost exclusively used for exotic plants that can quite successfully outcompete native plants. If one is really concerned about the environment and wants to "Go Native", it might be best to consider selecting a more appropriate book.

"Go Native...", written more as warm personal narrative, is as extensive as an encyclopedia without being dry, includes superb drawings and gorgeous color photos. It is a great help if one personally chooses to prepare for the low maintenance stewardship of our natural "wildlife" environment, maybe heeding Thoreau's simple joys of nature. "Perhaps it is time for each of us to consider taking a single step" suggests Harstad.
Even a modest land plot can be a natural theater of brilliantly sunlit landscape in constantly changing shadows and colors. Some, albeit greatly scaled down, might be reminiscent of those scenes from the 19th Century landscape artists, such as the Hoosier Group and the Hudson River School, that at the beginning of the 20th Century inspired today's goals in Conservation and Habitat Preservation. Or, as I can imagine, your own "...Brigadoon...look in your heart and there it will be."
Carolyn Harstad writes that native plants and wildflowers have the ability to thrive and survive on their own and when the "pioneers" came "...they wrote glowing reports... that the land through which they were traveling looked like an immense flower garden." Can we assume that similar sentiments inspired George Washington, Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark among others of America's early visionaries?
Here is a small but highly pertinent cross-cultural reference: Eva Cassidy sings of seasonal moods in her typically heartfelt manner: "Autumn Leaves", "Fields of Gold", "What a Wonderful World", and "Blue Skies" on the cd "Live at Blues Alley".