Native Plants for Prairie Gardens

Debbie Feisst is the reference/Internet resources librarian in the
Information Services Division of the Edmonton Public Library.

June Flanagan, co-author of The Prairie Gardener’s Sourcebook, has
been active since 1980 in various organizations that promote the use of
native plants in landscapes. She is a frequent contributor to botanical
publications and serves on the Alberta Native Plant Council Board.

Native plants originate naturally in an area, and varying environments
determine which plants grow in a particular region. This book is written
especially for gardeners in the northern and central Canadian prairies
as well as the corresponding U.S. region, also known as the Great
Plains. The use of native plants can assist gardeners in creating a
low-maintenance and environmentally friendly landscape through the use
of plants that have existed in a region for thousands of years. Their
short growing seasons and relative immunity to drought and extremes in
temperature make native plants an excellent choice for prairie
gardeners.

The book is divided into seven chapters: a useful introduction, an
explanation of the prairie, planning a landscape with native plants,
acquiring native plants, growing prairie plants, pro-pagating prairie
plants, and plants to use in prairie gardens. The last chapter,
comprising descriptions and pictures of the plants, occupies over half
the book and is divided into three sections: Wildflowers, Grasses, and
Woody Plants.

The entries include common and scientific names, growing tips, and
information on habitat, plant size, soil and light requirements, and
care and maintenance. For all the plants listed, there are full-colour
photographs, almost all of which were expertly taken by the author.
(Many of the entries require you to flip to a referred page to see the
image; an improvement for a revised edition would be to have the
photography accompany the entry.) In addition to a native plant bloom
time chart, references, and an index, the book includes lists of seed
and plant sources, native plant organizations, and public gardens
featuring native prairie plants.