Connecting to nature with native plantsLandscaping with native plants has encouraged gardeners from the Midwest and beyond to embark on a profound scientific, ecological, and emotional partnership with nature. Benjamin Vogt shares his expertise with prairie plants in a richly photographed guide aimed at gardeners and homeowners, making big ideas about design approachable and actionable. Step-by-step blueprints point readers to plant communities that not only suppor...

Peeling off sheets of skin from a sunburned back. Visiting five nurseries and spending $1,000 in an afternoon. Raising 200 monarch butterflies. Feeding grasshoppers to a spider. Hearing the wings of geese thirty feet overhead at sunset. How one piece of mulch can make all the difference. These are the stories of Benjamin Vogt’s 1,500 foot native prairie garden over the course of three years. After a small patio garden at his last home teases him into avid tinkering, the blank canvas of his...

In a time of climate change and mass extinction, how we garden matters more than ever: "An outstanding and deeply passionate book." —Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of AnimalsPlenty of books tell home gardeners and professional landscape designers how to garden sustainably, what plants to use, and what resources to explore. Yet few examine why our urban wildlife gardens matter so much—not just for ourselves, but for the larger human and animal co...