Real Gardens Grow Natives: Design, Plant, and Enjoy a Healthy Northwest Garden

by Eileen Stark

Overview

For many people, the most tangible and beneficial impact they can have on the environment is right in their own yard. Aimed at beginning and veteran gardeners alike, Real Gardens Grow Natives is a stunningly photographed guide that helps readers plan, implement, and sustain a retreat at home that reflects the natural world. Gardening with native plants that naturally belong and thrive in the Pacific Northwest’s climate and soil not only nurtures biodiversity, but provides a quintessential Northwest character and beauty to yard and neighborhood!



For gardeners and conservationists who lack the time to read through lengthy design books and plant lists or can’t afford a landscape designer, Real Gardens Grow Natives is accessible yet comprehensive and provides the inspiration and clear instruction needed to create and sustain beautiful, functional, and undemanding gardens. With expert knowledge from professional landscape designer Eileen M. Stark, Real Gardens Grow Natives includes:



* Detailed profiles of 100 select native plants for the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades, plus related species, helping make plant choice and placement.



* Straightfoward methods to enhance or restore habitat and increase biodiversity



* Landscape design guidance for various-sized yards, including sample plans



* Ways to integrate natives, edibles, and nonnative ornamentals within your garden



* Specific planting procedures and secrets to healthy soil



* Techniques for propagating your own native plants



* Advice for easy, maintenance using organic methods

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594858666
Publisher:	Mountaineers Books, The
Publication date:	09/24/2014
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	343,221
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Eileen M. Stark is a landscape designer and consultant specializing in wildlife habitat. Her ecological garden designs use permaculture and restoration ecology principles, with a goal of protecting and increasing biodiversity. Her experience is backed by a B.S. in biology, as well as studies in ecology, wildlife conservation, and design; her writing and photographs have appeared in national and regional publications. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Editorial Reviews

With Ms. Stark’s book, you have a clear guide to transforming your own patch of the planet into a haven for native plants and animals. She offers advice for all situations – even if you’re currently stuck with a turf lawn and overbearing hedges, or you’re in the unusual situation of tackling a blank slate.

Washington Butterfly Assiciation G'num

But plotting your planting — there’s a legitimate seasonal activity. Real Gardens Grow Natives: Design, Plant, and Enjoy a Healthy Northwest Garden provides all of the inspirational fodder you need to make your spring plans.

Portland landscape designer, conservationist and photographer Eileen Stark persuasively campaigns with ecological as well as practical evidence for going native. Native plants support the food chain, conserve water and are frequently as striking as so-called exotics. Design, plant selection (“100 of the most garden-worthy Pacific Northwest indigenous plants”), identification, cultivation and display — Stark supplies all but the sunshine.

Eugene Register Guard

(Author Eileen) Stark gives good suggestions for incorporating natives into the non-native plantings you already have in place. The last half of the book is a very helpful guide to 100 native plants of our region. There’s advice on size, bloom traits, benefits to wildlife, and more, and beautiful photographs accompany every entry. It’s heartening to know that, in our own gardens, we can contribute to the health of our planet’s biodiversity by following this book’s lead.

The Bellingham Harold - Barabara Lloyd McMichael

Rewilding is an antidote to this high-tech, hurry-up, profit-driven world. It’s all about reconnecting to the natural world while repairing some of the damage humans have inflicted on Mother Earth.
Gardeners, accustomed to seeking respite in nature, seem to be taking to the idea. While the notion has been around for a couple of decades, the word rewilding only made it into the dictionary in 2011.

Real Gardens Grow Natives is a new book by Portland landscape designer Eileen Stark that offers a common-sense approach to rewilding. She describes her work as less restoration manual and more a welcome mat for creatures. Stark emphasizes aesthetics as well as ecosystems, with a useful selection of native plants suited to conditions in Northwest cities and suburbs. “Even an urban eighth of an acre can provide for other species and inspire neighbors in the process,” says Stark.

Seattle Times - Valerie Easton

Represents one of the most thorough efforts to review the benefits of regionally native plants, in combination with information on basic garden techniques and design principles.

Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin