Native Plant Bibliography

National Wildlife Federation's Guide to Gardening for Wildlife: How to Create a Beautiful Backyard Habitat for Birds, Butterflies and Other Wildlife

Author(s): Tufts, C.; H. P. Loewer

Year: 1995

Publisher: Emmaus, Pa. : Rodale Press

ISBN: 0875966756

Subject: Gardening, Wildlife

Comments: From Amazon.com: From Library Journal Landscaping to attract wildlife has become a popular gardening activity, not only in rural settings but also in suburbia and even in cities. Here are three titles showing the way, each with a different focus and varying success rate. All are profusely illustrated with excellent color photographs. Kress, a highly accomplished naturalist and the author of two top-quality Audubon Society guides on birding and attracting birds, presents informative chapters on landscaping, plantings, nesting structures, feeding, use of water, and a regional reference to plants and birds. This is an excellent guide to attracting birds but suffers slightly from a plethora of sidebars and columns on individual birds and plants, although there is no discussion of hummingbird feeding. One wishes for more of Kress's fine, overarching, generalized text. Nevertheless, The Bird Garden can be highly recommended for all gardening collections. Tufts, the chief naturalist and manager of the National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program, and noted garden writer Loewer, offer a guide that is less compartmentalized with a more cohesive, expository text. The emphasis is more on the use of vegetation, natural shelter, and water to attract a broad spectrum of animals, not just birds. Although the approach is less cookbook and more conceptual, the book still has many practical qualities, but specifics on feeders and nesting boxes are not included. Chapters discuss creating a habitat; getting the garden ready; creating woodland gardens; meadow and prairie gardens; water gardens; gardening for birds, butterflies, and nightlife; and profiles of 15 NWF backyard habitats. This is an excellent overview of of how to garden for wildlife.

Last Updated: 2007-01-01