Review by C.J. Bunce
When the rest of the world doesn’t always do its best to preserve and protect the ecology and animals of the planet, you need to take responsibility for it yourself. Like the classic comical family vacation, the phrase “don’t make me come up there” is apt. It’s another time to “come up there” beginning with your own yard. Plant This, Not That, by Elise Howard, released this week and available now here at Amazon, is about taking your first step into a larger world, where your yard might attract the likes of dragonflies, hummingbirds, toads, bumblebees, butterflies, grasshoppers, moths, songbirds, and beneficial insects. If you’re a fan of Audubon Society Field Guides or your scout training needs some refreshing, this handy book provides what you need to know to attempt to counteract climate change in your own yard.
Did you know you can’t maintain a monarch butterfly presence without the asclepias milkweed? That’s the only place a monarch will lay its eggs. It’s a pretty one, so add that to your list. I noticed that many of her suggestions, like asclepias, phlox, columbine, lilies, and coneflowers, are routinely carried by national big box stores seasonally, and for reasonable prices.
Howard digs into the differences between good (beneficial) or bad (harmful) plants, and suggests substitutions for non-native plants you’ve already planted or found moving into a new home. It doesn’t necessarily mean giving up your favorite blooming flowers–she points to entomologist Douglas Tallamy, the National Wildlife Federation, and other experts who suggest a 70 percent native garden may be good enough. That’s enough of the right kinds of flora to sustain pollinators, provide key food and shelter for insects, birds, and mammals, and establish the wildlife corridors necessary to support animal populations that often live their entire lifespans within yards of where they are born. So that leaves some room for those plants that might not further the book’s idea of a native, non-invasive plant ideal, like roses, irises, peonies, zinnias, and daisies, and trees like Japanese maple and Bradford pear.
To use available data to pin down the right plants for where you live, Howard incorporates BONAP maps instead of the traditional USDA hardiness zones in helping you pinpoint what may be right for your area. That’s the Biota of North America Program North American Plant Atlas, which ties in decades of data to map by genus and species the native ranges of thousands of plants by county and state.
Use the book for your next plant store or nursery search, or as a plant library resource. It features a quick and easy to follow layout with plants on the left in red that aren’t recommended, and plants in green on the right that are recommended.
The author considers this search one for the “native plant curious,” and it’s only a starting point for understanding the beauty, versatility, and benefits of plants native to your region, since there are hundreds (if not thousands) of native plants available to purchase or grow from seed, and many that didn’t make it into the book. For those that made the cut, readers will find each plant’s native range and requirements, plant type and growth habit, ornamental features including bloom time and color, berries or fruit, and fall color, requirements for sun, dry or wet soil, and special cultural characteristics, with attention to workhorse and high pollinator plants as well as deer-resistant plants.
Plant This, Not That includes suggested reading and online sources, a detailed general index with non-natives highlighted in red, and a state-by-state index for more ease of finding your area’s native plants. Use the book as a reference or a teaching aid. If you’re teaching a class on nature at any level, or your scout or ecology group is spending the next year earning nature badges, this would be a prime resource.
This guide is a good pairing on your nature shelf with Saving Nature One Yard at a Time (reviewed here), The Book of Bees (reviewed here), and Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees (reviewed here) and Forest Walking (reviewed here). It’s a good starting point to begin to take personal responsibility to protect the planet beginning right now, with changes you can personally take on with not a lot of effort or money. Many of these things you may already be doing. Plant This, Not That from Workman Publishing is available now here at Amazon.
