The National Wildlife Federation's Guide to Gardening for Wildlife: How to Create a Beautiful Backyard Habitat for Birds, Butterflies and Other Wild (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Peter Loewer (Author), H. Peter Loewer (Author), National Wildlife Federation (Corporate Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Landscaping to attract wildlife has become a popular gardening activity, not only in rural settings but also in suburbia and even in cities. Here are three titles showing the way, each with a different focus and varying success rate. All are profusely illustrated with excellent color photographs. Kress, a highly accomplished naturalist and the author of two top-quality Audubon Society guides on birding and attracting birds, presents informative chapters on landscaping, plantings, nesting structures, feeding, use of water, and a regional reference to plants and birds. This is an excellent guide to attracting birds but suffers slightly from a plethora of sidebars and columns on individual birds and plants, although there is no discussion of hummingbird feeding. One wishes for more of Kress's fine, overarching, generalized text. Nevertheless, The Bird Garden can be highly recommended for all gardening collections. Tufts, the chief naturalist and manager of the National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program, and noted garden writer Loewer, offer a guide that is less compartmentalized with a more cohesive, expository text. The emphasis is more on the use of vegetation, natural shelter, and water to attract a broad spectrum of animals, not just birds. Although the approach is less cookbook and more conceptual, the book still has many practical qualities, but specifics on feeders and nesting boxes are not included. Chapters discuss creating a habitat; getting the garden ready; creating woodland gardens; meadow and prairie gardens; water gardens; gardening for birds, butterflies, and nightlife; and profiles of 15 NWF backyard habitats. This is an excellent overview of of how to garden for wildlife. Needham's Beastly Abodes tries a more direct, nuts-and-bolts approach with 74 sections written by 17 authors on how to build boxes, feeders, rafts, etc., for a variety of wildlife such as bats, butterflies, birds, as well as such as toads, mice, squirrels, turtles, bees, et al. There is much useful information but also an unfortunate emphasis on artistic, even garish, houses. A birdhouse that looks as if it were painted by Piet Mondrian, one that resembles a chrome diner, or a squirrel house with an elaborate acorn design may appeal to many people but the creatures for which they were intended are better served by abodes that are natural and unembellished. Because of such fanciful airs and in the face of an abundance of well-crafted current books on attracting wildlife, Beastly Abodes is not recommended. These new books add considerably to our knowledge of attracting wildlife but the bedrock?established by earlier titles by Kress, such John V. Dennis works as The Complete Guide to Bird Feeding (Knopf, 1994), and the excellent Ortho Books series?still remains vital.?Henry T. Armistead, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Pr (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875966756
• ISBN-13: 978-0875966755
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #861,714 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic reference, September 6, 2003

By	merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Super book that talks to all the needs of wildlife: Food, water, place to stay. It introduces the idea of creating wildlife habitat then steps through different types of gardens (woods, meadow, water) and then goes into some neat chapters on gardening for birds, butterflies and nightlife (which I esdpecially was interested in since I hadn't seen much of this). This was probably one ofthe first mainstream books to talk to bringing back habitat for wildlife and gardening for wildlife. I see it as a classic, a great foundation that you can build off of. If you're just starting to get your arms around gardening for wildlife this is a terrific place to begin - has more than enough to keep you busy.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The National Wildlife Federation Guide to Gardening for Wild, April 20, 2000

By	Nicole Worswick (Trinidad) - See all my reviews

Well If you are a avid gardener like me, you would be naturally attracted to the beautiful, coulourful pictures, perfect for coffee table adornment. The only disappoint ment is it does not help you if you live in the Caribbean, it deals mostly with temperate plants,but otherwise a joy to read.