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How Can I Help?: Saving Nature with Your Yard Hardcover – April 8, 2025
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In How Can I Help?, Tallamy tackles the questions commonly asked at his popular lectures and shares compelling and actionable answers that will help gardeners and homeowners take the next step in their ecological journey. Topics range from ecology, evolution, biodiversity and conservation to restoration, native plants, invasive species, pest control, and supporting wildlife at home. Tallamy keenly understands that most people want to take part in conservation efforts but often feel powerless to do so as individuals. But one person can make a difference, and How Can I Help? details how.
Whether by reducing your lawn, planting a handful of native species, or allowing leaves to sit untouched, you will be inspired and empowered to join millions of other like-minded people to become the future of backyard conservation.
- Print length376 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTimber Press
- Publication dateApril 8, 2025
- Dimensions6.4 x 1.38 x 9.4 inches
- ISBN-101643264710
- ISBN-13978-1643264714
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Nature's Best Hope (Young Readers' Edition): How You Can Save the World in Your Own YardSarah L. ThomsonPaperback
From the brand
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Gardening Books
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Nature & Science Books
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Family-Friendly Nature Books
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Medicinal Herbs and Plants
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Field Guides
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Founded in 1978, Timber Press is internationally recognized as the leading gardening publisher.
Dedicated to sharing the wonders of the natural world, we publish books from experts in the fields of gardening, horticulture, and natural history.
Our books and authors have received awards from the American Horticultural Society, the Garden Writers of America, the Garden Media Guild, and the National Garden Club of America.
From the Publisher
BIODIVERSITY
Q: Do you really believe that non-native plants could possibly threaten the continued viability of necessary insect populations? It really seems far-fetched to me that there could be enough of these and other plants to threaten your insects.
A: First, let me emphasize that science is not a discipline based on beliefs, but one based on testable hypotheses. I have tested many times the hypothesis that non-native plants support fewer insects (both insect herbivores and pollinators) than do native plants. I always get the same answer: they do not.
NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE PLANTS
Q: Is there such a thing as a “good” or “bad” native plant?
A: Good or bad at what? Are there native plants that will take over large areas, expelling all other species the way so many invasives do? No. But there are native plants we can call “aggressive,” and we should plant them with that in mind. But many smaller flowering annuals and perennials support more pollinators than larger woody plants do. Different plants are good at different things. To cover all of the bases, your best bet is to plant a diversity of plant ty pes wherever you can.
INVASICE SPECIES
Q: What is the definition of invasive?
A: An invasive species is a non-native organism that displaces native species. I often hear people misusing the term. The other day, for example, I heard a woman say that she didn’t like Virginia creeper because it was invasive. She may not like Virginia creeper—a valuable native plant in terms of its contributions to food webs—but a native plant cannot, by definition, be classified as invasive.
PEST CONTROL
Q: What are your thoughts about the value of releasing beneficial insects, such as minute pirate bugs and Neoseiulus species predatory mites, to control pests in a small home garden with a history of some chemical use?
A: In theory, adding predators to a garden can suppress pest populations, but it is difficult to make this work. Large pest populations must be present when you release the predators so that the predators can increase their own populations. The fact that pesticides were once used in the garden shouldn’t be a problem unless they depressed the pest populations below what is needed to keep the predators around. If there are not enough pests for the predators to eat, they won’t stick around.
CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION
Q: What single thing could home gardeners do to start sharing their yards with the natural world?
A: Plant an oak tree! Oaks support more biodiversity, sequester more carbon, and manage the watershed better than any other tree in most parts of North America. They also support pollinators, even though oaks are wind pollinated. Bees regularly go to oak catkins and gather pollen, which they then feed to their young. Start with the smallest tree you can find (acorns are free!). You will end up with a faster growing, healthier tree this way.
SUPPORTING WILDLIFE AT HOME
Q: Is it good to feed the birds?
A: When done properly, feeding birds certainly is good—at least during winter and spring. Our bird feeders attract species that spend their winters in our yards (migrants that fly south for winter are insectivores and therefore not interested in seed). Most non-migrants depend heavily or entirely on seed and the fats they get from suet cakes, both of which are in very short supply in a typical residential landscape.
Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard
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Nature's Best Hope (Young Readers' Edition): How You Can Save the World in Yo...
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Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, Update...
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The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees
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The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden
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| “If you’d like to turn your own little postage stamp of native soil into a conservation effort, Nature’s Best Hope, is a great place to begin.” —New York Times | "Authors like Tallamy are aying the groundwork for a better climate future by tapping into children’s inborn compassion, curiosity and sense of justice.” ―The New York Times | “A fascinating study of the trees, shrubs, and vines that feed the insects, birds, and other animals in the suburban garden.” —The New York Times | “There’s a payoff for the environment, yes, but also for each of us, in the bonds of personal connection. Tallamy feels it, down to the last acorn.” —The New York Times | “Two giants of the natural gardening world, Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy, have collaborated on their best work yet.” —The New York Times |
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Here is one area where individual action really can help make up for all that government fails to do: your backyard can provide the margin to keep species alive. Mow less, think more!”―Bill McKibben, author of Falter
“Even a single person acting boldly with [Tallamy’s] goal in mind could be a crucial source of inspiration for others around them.” ―Associated Press
"Doug Tallamy is the godfather of the native-plant movement.” ―The Washington Post
"This comprehensive guide, featuring hundreds of FAQs and practical answers, clarifies how specific land stewardship practices can cultivate biodiverse habitats. It equips readers with valuable insights to communicate effectively with friends and neighbors, simplifies complex topics, and demonstrates ways one can foster a deeper connection with nature, starting right in their own yards. This is an important addition to Doug’s best-selling line up of books."―Heather Holm, Pollinator Conservationist and Author
“Doug Tallamy tackles the issues that bedevil anyone interested in a healthy garden and healthy planet: biodiversity, native plants, invasive species, pest control, wildlife, and more…His answers are always thoughtful, useful, and based on research and experience.”―The American Gardener
"A longtime professor of entomology and wildlife ecology at the University of Delaware, Tallamy helped kickstart the native plant movement in 2007 with his first book, Bringing Nature Home. His new book, How Can I Help?, lays out the problems and how to fix them as plainly as I’ve ever read them.”―The Los Angeles Times
"Tallamy distills essential takeaways in topics as big as evolution and food webs, alongside targeted, can-do answers, such as reducing hazard to beneficial insects from our human obsession with artificial light at night by switching to yellow lightbulbs and motion detectors."―The New York Times
“With actionable advice on everything from invasive species control to promoting ecological balance, this inspiring guide empowers readers to become active participants in backyard conservation and ecological restoration.”―Sunset
"Tallamy keenly understands that most people want to take part in conservation efforts but often feel powerless to do so as individuals. But one person can make a difference, and How Can I Help? details how."―The Revelator
About the Author
Doug Tallamy is a professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 107 research publications and has taught insect-related courses for 44 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. Among his awards are the Garden Club of America Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation and the Tom Dodd, Jr. Award of Excellence, the 2018 AHS B. Y. Morrison Communication Award, and the 2019 Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. Doug is author of Bringing Nature Home, Nature’s Best Hope, and The Nature of Oaks; and co-founder with Michelle Alfandari of HOMEGROWN NATIONAL PARK®. Learn more at HNPARK.org.
Product details
- Publisher : Timber Press
- Publication date : April 8, 2025
- Language : English
- Print length : 376 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1643264710
- ISBN-13 : 978-1643264714
- Item Weight : 2.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.4 x 1.38 x 9.4 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #36,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
About the author

Douglas W. Tallamy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities.





