Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards (Paperback)

by Sara B. Stein (Author) "I CAME INTO GARDENING backward, from the wild verges instead of through the garden gate..." (more)
Key Phrases: orange aphids, fruiting shrubs, alder buckthorn, New England, New York, New Jersey (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
What kind of grass is planted behind your house? What insects burrow in your soil, and what birds eat them? What's happening in that compost pile you're so proud of? This book may well change the view from your patio. A former old-style suburban gardener, Sara Stein writes convincingly of the ecological history of suburbia and the necessity of good stewardship of the land stolen from prairies and forests to make our back yards.

From Publishers Weekly
Suburban development has wrought habitat destruction on a large scale, notes the author; our tidy lawns and gardens have wiped out numerous plants and animals, including predators that keep pests in check. Science writer Stein ( My Weeds ) calls our attention to the critical role yards play in supporting biodiversity. She describes how she rebuilt her garden in Westchester County, N.Y., using native plants to create pocket woodlands, berried hedgerows and a meadow. Stein gives a fine explanation of the difference between cool-weather lawn grasses and the hot-weather varieties. She disdains the popular "Meadow-in-a-can," reporting that making a real meadow requires approximately three years, and discusses the need to attract the declining frog, toad and turtle populations. This is a valuable book. Illustrations. Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395709407
• ISBN-13: 978-0395709405
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,821 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #55 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Flowers
  #69 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Landscape
  #85 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Environment > Ecology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEST BOOK EVER, August 5, 2001

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

This book actually changed my WHOLE outlook and approach to gardening. I've never had a garden book change me like this. Its just so incredible. I ate up every chapter and couldn't put it down and when I was done I went out into the garden and got my hands dirty like never before. This author completely breaks through the mysteries of gardening and basically shows us how we need to simply plant with nature (i.e. planting native plants, planting them where they will thrive) versus fighting against nature. She also wakes you up to the horrible ways that we are poisoning the early in this fight against nature by using pesticides and not realizing thhe impact. Oh its just such an incredible book. It more subtle than I'm making it sound and its not preachy at all. It just woke me up in such a way that I can't express enough how incredible this book is. And by the way, by following the ideas expressed in the book we've got some fantastic gardens growing where birds and bees and butterflies all come to vist. Its a wildloife adventure right in our back yard. I've given this book as a gift to friends and relatives and they agreed with how incredible it is. Her second book is ok, not as good as this one but still good

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wondered where the fireflies of my childhood had gone., November 16, 1999

By	John R. Gouley SR (usa) - See all my reviews

I wanted to learn some answers to some basic ecological questions of the "where did they go" and "how can I get them back" variety. This book answers those questions and more. What really surprised me was the emotions this book invokes. I laughed and I cried, sometimes on the same page. I think this is probably the best book I have read in several years, on any subject.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rescuing the Suburbs, March 9, 2001

By	"celiamantaz" (Princeton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

For "challenged" gardeners such as myself, what a relief it is to read that such chores as double digging can actually be harmful by creating conditions even more inviting to invasive weeds and pests. In addition to being a great inspiration for changing one's approach to that of "ungardening," Noah's Garden presents an environmentally based manifesto against suburban sprawl and the cookie cutter tract developments it has engendered. Sarah Stein presents many creative thoughts for encouraging the return of wildlife in the suburbs. Some ideas can be carried out individually on one's own property, but when one starts to look at ecologically impoverished neighborhood environments the way Sarah Stein does, it seems reasonable to start applying her principles to larger areas. Stein suggests, for instance, that the small wilderness of trees and shrubs an enlightened homeowner can set aside in a back corner can be joined with other small thickets created by like-minded abutting property owners to form a small suburban forest. The material presented here has as much value for the local planning board or environmental commission as it does for the individual gardener. Sarah Stein, like Noah, is warning of the impending loss of all signs of life in our own communities if we don't amend our ways. I for one will be building my ark!