Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: A Northern Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants and Pollinators
I am so excited to share this new book with you. I received a copy from the publisher to review and, I have to say, I am more than happy to report “A Northern Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants and Pollinators, creating habitat in the Northeast, Great Lakes and Upper Midwest” by Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla, is even better than I anticipated.
Sharing knowledge on ALL things in the garden has been my passion for 17 years since I started Garden Bite. I have discussed other books and authors and am very happy to share this new guide to Native plants.
They begin with a more comprehensive look at bees. Our native species and non-native honeybees. But bees aren’t the only pollinators. There are wasps, butterflies, flies and the list continues.
While a lot of people think of these insects as pests, we really need to retrain our brains to understand the intricate community they are and the rewards WE reap from them.
This book is all about helping us understand the importance of native plants and how OUR efforts, though they seem small, have a huge impact on assisting our native pollinators. Below is my rain garden with nearly all native plants. The photo is the garden’s 2nd year.
Johnson and Colla also explain nativars, those plants that are cultivars of native species. Note: the photo below is from the UofMN lab.
This book features plants from groundcovers to trees and includes specific information on plants that grow in clay soil. With each plant they list the specifics of size, sun/shade, flowering time and more; as well as information on which pollinators they assist, what are good companion plants and more details specific to the plant.
I can’t say enough about this book,”A Northern Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants and Pollinators”. AND the illustrations are fantastic by Ann Sanderson.
