I own and have read all the books on this list. This are my “keepers”. The books that provide excellent information in an easy-to-understand format. If you are new to ecological gardening start with Doug Tallamy’s book, Bringing Nature Home.

Native Plants

[amazon_textlink asin=’0881926736′ text=’Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening and Conservation’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’5dd6ce9e-4009-4852-927e-efb5dad07c2a’] by Donald J. Leopold. Timber Press, 2005 ISBN – 978-0-88192-673-6

[amazon_textlink asin=’0395966094′ text=’Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’bd32df9a-e9d2-4a57-a3f4-1f960cb0bf56′] by William Cullina. Houghton Mifflin, 2000. ISBN 0-395-96609-4

[amazon_textlink asin=’0618531181′ text=’Native Ferns, Moss, and Grasses: From Emerald Carpet to Amber Wave: Serene and Sensuous Plants for the Garden’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’976845a8-8e9e-4efc-bcc9-2a92a205deb0′] by William Cullina. Houghton Mifflin, 2008. ISBN 978-0-618-53118-9

[amazon_textlink asin=’0618098585′ text=’Native Trees, Shrubs and Vines: A Guide to Using, Growing and Propagating North American Woody Plants’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’219ba0c9-8caa-4c8a-bc99-7913275fb755′] by William Cullina. Houghton Mifflin, 2002. ISBN 0-618-09858-5

[amazon_textlink asin=’0812240030′ text=’Plants of Pennsylvania, 2nd ed’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d93a128e-773a-453b-b1a6-31b9e5692134′]. by Ann Fowler Rhoads and Timothy A. Block. University of Pennsylvania, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8122-4003-0.

[amazon_textlink asin=’0812237854′ text=’Trees of Pennsylvania: A Complete Reference Guide’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’1698399c-9f25-4659-afe9-75abe1a50728′] by Ann Fowler Rhoads and Timothy A. Block. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8122-3785-4.

[amazon_textlink asin=’0881924539′ text=’Native American Ethnobotany’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’f50a2f39-8e26-46cd-9047-59d1c02ea1cf’] by Daniel E. Moerman. Timber Press, 1998. ISBN 0-88192-453-9.

[amazon_textlink asin=’0881929875′ text=’Native American Medicinal Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’42868c18-deee-46a2-8bc4-5f71a4bf9579′]: The Uses of More than 3000 plants by Native American Tribes by Daniel E. Moerman. Timber Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-88192-987-4. Information is taken from the massive tome, Native American Ethnobotany by Daniel E. Moerman.

[amazon_textlink asin=’1604691891′ text=’Native American Food Plants, An Ethnobotanical Dictionary: The Food Uses of More than 1500 plants by 221 Native American Groups’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’3fab4756-c85e-45c8-b3c4-ab05dd2418a9′] by Daniel E. Moerman.  Timber Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-60469-189-4. Information is taken from the massive tome, Native American Ethnobotany by Daniel E. Moerman

Gardening and Landscaping

[amazon_textlink asin=’0813547075′ text=’Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’7ee96fb0-9b9c-4b94-a190-1efd6f63d71c’]by Carolyn Summers. Rutgers University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-8135-4706-0

[amazon_textlink asin=’0984456007′ text=’Urban an Suburban Meadows: Bringing Meadowscaping to Big and Small Spaces’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d06ab4f4-5f95-46e6-9411-d1f06f0112cd’] by Catherine Zimmerman. Matrix Media Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9844560-0-0

[amazon_textlink asin=’1889538744′ text=’Native Alternatives to Invasive Species’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’515478cc-19d6-4338-8796-31afb3ebd4fc’] edited by C. Colston Burrell, Janet Marinelli, and Bonnie Harper-Love. Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, 2006. ISBN 978-1-889538-74-7

[amazon_textlink asin=’1604697075′ text=’The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’94c75c6e-5242-4a13-b2c2-684696ba9f59′] by Tracy DiSabato-Aust. Timber Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-88192-803-7

[amazon_textlink asin=’0881926078′ text=’Landscaping with Native Trees: The Northeast. Midwest, MidSouth and Southeast’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’52e665fa-ce18-4292-a53d-5ca1c2154b70′] Edition by Guy Sternberg and Jim Wilson. Chapters Publishing, 1995. ISBN 1-881527-65-4.

[amazon_textlink asin=’0811702847′ text=’Invasive Plants: A Guide to Identification and the Impacts and Control of Common North American Species’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’a2dcc027-c401-42ec-96c1-1d36156e2cf5′] by Sylvan Ramsey Kaufman and Wallace Kaufman. Stackpole Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8117-3365-6

Ecology

[amazon_textlink asin=’0881929921′ text=’Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’7312d134-fc2d-461f-ab7d-3aa8babf8309′] by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2nd. Timber Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-88192-854-9. This book has changed the way many people think and garden, including me.

Habitat Gardening 

[amazon_textlink asin=’B079SZMQMM’ text=’Gardening for LIfe in Southeastern Pennsylvania’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’b844e141-4e34-4f98-a543-a5d63afa5cf6′] by Audubon at Home and Bucks County Audubon Society. available at http://www.audubon.org

Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies edited by Deborah Burns. Xerces Society, 2011. ISBN 978-1-60342-695-4. Plant lists, profiles, and garden plans make this book extremely useful for gardeners, landscapes and habitat restoration.

[amazon_textlink asin=’0991356306′ text=’Pollinator Conservator Handbook’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’7557ded9-dd9a-422e-8d98-ca4045ebb3b1′]: A Guide to Understanding, Protecting and Providing Habitat for Native Pollinator Insects by The Xerces Society, 2003. ISBN 0-97444475-0-1

Climate Change

[amazon_textlink asin=’1608193942′ text=’Merchants of Doubt’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’connectingw0b-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’66c7dcc6-1005-44ff-98c0-18f01a2235a5′]: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. Bloomsbury Press, 2010. ISBN  978-1-59691-610-4

Special Report Global Warming (cover story) Time Magazine, April 3. 2006. p. 34- 42.

The Truth About Denial (cover story) by Sharon Begley, Newsweek, August 13, 2007. p. 20-29.