I also just got done reading "Bringing Nature Home". I found it very interesting also. It seems a very good thing to plant more native species to support the insects and birds. I do wonder though about the larger picture. It seems that increasing communication and travel and increased sharing of everything including all kinds of plants is the way things are going. I cannot imagine that the trend will stop or change any time soon if ever. Also how does it all fit with the darwinian "survival of the fittest? theory? I'm just left with a kind of large question mark in my mind about the whole issue. It just doesn't seem realistic to think we won't import all kinds of new plants etc even though it might upset the ecological balance. Every new introduction comes with positives and also negatives and it is just so hard to judge ahead of time what they all will be.
Joann

I agree that it is not realistic that things won't still be imported. There are people that live for the challenge of discovering new plants and bringing them back to other parts of the world ... and people that crave having the "newest" thing in their garden. Problems aren't always apparent ... even in the first few years after introduction (except maybe for kudzu - which has an amazing grape soda fragrance, btw). I know that collectors and importers don't knowingly bring in pests and diseases, but the risk is there.

To me, the "survival of the fittest" concept doesn't quite apply because it is not nature that has brought these things together ... it was man. Our actions are causing things to "not survive". We have destroyed habitat - it's hard to compete with large machinery. We have brought in pests that these organisms might never have been exposed to. They don't have time to adapt to them.

The conclusion of this book is that people should not stop trying to help restore things, even if it is just on a small plot. Plant native plants when and where you can, if enough of us do it, it makes a difference. Don't think you can't make a difference.

Dear Esh,
I agree with you except for one point. We humans are certainly part of nature so darwinian theory does apply here. We are just another species of animal really, although we sure do a lot of harm but then we also do good!

Esh, Amen. Sounds like a great book. I wish more people understood this concept.

This book sounds fantastic. As I have become more involved with restoring native plants, creating a wildlife habitat, and learning about birds in particular, I realized that the primary food source for most birds in Spring-Summer-Fall is insects. Beneficial insects serve important purposes in the garden too.

Most people are enchanted with birds and butterflies, but do they realize the chemicals they are dumping on their lawn or gardens are killing important food sources for birds and well as killing the birds and pollinators themselves??

Using native plants, gardening organically, and also creating natural or wild areas are critical. I let leaf litter, sticks and branches, and dead trees alone. I am planning to increase wild areas of native grasses and forbs. I have brush piles, and plan to grow many native vines. The thickets of vines, dead branches, and dense shrubbery in my yard are some of the most attractive areas for the birds. Not in the front yard, that is more cultivated(still full of native plants as well as non-natives, and leaves, compost, and pine straw for mulch). Most of this is in the large back yard.

Some people think an overgrown area is messy-looking. To me, it is beautiful. It is the monocultures of chemical lawns, the overly manicured green meatball shrubs, and obsessively tidy gardens of non-native plants that look - well, not so beautiful.

To follow a bit on the last of what terrene said: Down here in the South, chinese privet is the #1 invader of roadsides. Sure kudzu is more obvious ... but privet covers the most acres. Unfortunately it is so ubiquitous ("Being or seeming to be everywhere"), that many folk have come to think of it as "native".

It makes a mess of the roadside, often becoming an impromptu trellis for vines until the whole area looks messy and overgrown. And THIS is the look that some people (perhaps even many people) associate with "native plantings". Ugh.

It's no wonder that people shy away from using natives based on this perception. But hopefully learning more about the whole process (from plant to insect to bird ...) will help people realize it is something worthwhile doing and give them a sense of purpose in their garden.