holyoutlaw

by Russell Link

One thing I didn’t mention when talking about Bringing Nature Home is the production. The book is illustrated throughout with hundreds of full-color photographs by the author, all illustrating important points from the text. The pages are thick, opaque, and glossy, which makes the photos really pop out. This makes it a great reference book as well as an interesting read.

If “Bringing Nature Home” is a reference book, then Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest is a workbook. This is a book made for marginal notes, comments, post-its, multiple bookmarks, working in the field, cross-referencing, and all-in-all giving it the provenance of a book that shows it’s well-loved by being well-used. Most of the pages (except for a color photograph section) are newsprint. There are line illustrations throughout, of plants, water flows, landscape designs, and more.

There are five parts to the book, each at least four chapters long: habitat design and maintenance, pacific northwest wildlife, special features of a wildlife habitat, and co-existing with wildlife. Part five is a long section of appendices that includes information on PNW habitats; plant lists, tables and maps; wildlife information for specific plants; and construction plans. The last appendix is a list of resources for each specific topic (ie, birds, wildlife maintenance, reptiles and amphibians, etc.). This book was published in 1999, with a third printing in 2002, and to my knowledge hasn’t been updated. The organizations and books listed in the resource section are still around, but the list of native plant nurseries in particular should be double checked. If anything, there are likely to be more specialized native plant nurseries supporting the restoration industry.

But that slight caveat aside, this is a book that belongs in the work room or greenhouse of anyone interested in landscaping for wildlife. As “Bringing Nature Home” demonstrates, landscaping with native plants in home gardens can go a long way towards restoring some of the imbalances and destruction of nature our sprawl is creating. “Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest” gives you the specific tools and resources to do that in our region.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.