Garden Allies: Discover the Many Ways Insects, Birds and Other Animals Keep Your Garden Beautiful and Thriving

(Paperback)

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Description

An engaging, illustrated introduction to the beneficial insects, birds, and other animals that help a garden thrive. The birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects that inhabit our yards and gardens are overwhelmingly on our side - they are not our enemies, but instead our allies. They pollinate our flowers and vegetable crops, and they keep pests in check. In Garden Allies, Frederique Lavoipierre shares fascinating portraits of these creatures, describing their life cycles and showing how they keep the garden's ecology in balance. Also included is helpful information on how to nurture and welcome these valuable creatures into your garden. With beautiful pen-and-ink drawings by Craig Latker, Garden Allies invites you to make friends with the creatures that fill your garden - the reward is a renewed sense of nature's beauty and a garden humming with life. AUTHOR: Frederique Lavoipierre is the former director of education at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and author of Garden Allies, a ten-year series of articles published in Pacific Horticulture Magazine. She currently works as a consultant and serves on the editorial advisory group for the American Public Gardens Association. 134 b/w illustrations

Reviews

"Frdrique Lavoipierre explains how your garden can be more than a collection of high-maintenance decorations; it can be a thriving, balanced community that gives more to your landscape than it takes." --Douglas W. Tallamy, author of The Nature of Oaks, Nature's Best Hope, and Bringing Nature Home

"Garden Allies introduces and engages readers about the many phenomenal organisms--from soil-dwelling microorganisms to beetles, bees, bacteria, and bats--who are our natural allies in the garden. In demystifying these fabulous creatures, Lavoipierre inspires us as gardeners to stop, look, listen, learn, and put away the toxic chemicals." --Jennifer Jewell, creator and host of Cultivating Place, author of The Earth in Her Hands

"An excellent resource for any gardener willing to press pause before turning to the pesticide."--Booklist

"A useful and interesting read for rookie, armchair, and experienced gardeners. Easy to read front to back or section by section, and information can be applied to any region of the United States." --Kirkus

"A useful and interesting read for rookie, armchair, and experienced gardeners. Easy to read front to back or section by section, and information can be applied to any region of the United States."--Library Journal

"Sure to become a favorite among ecologically minded gardeners and conservationists." --The American Gardener

"Gardeners will walk away from this spirited advice finding creepy crawlers at least a bit more charming."--Publishers Weekly

"Frederique Lavoipierre brings her wide-ranging knowledge of ecological principles ins sustainable landscapes together with her ability to write winningly about attracting and encouraging insects and the complex relationships between species in the garden." --Landscape Architecture Magazine

"With beautiful drawings, Garden Allies presents fascinating portraits of the creatures that live in readers' gardens." --Sir Reads a Lot

"Frederique Lavoipierre adds her voice to the crescendoing chorus calling for holistic approaches to gardening that work with nature instead of against it. What makes this book different, though, is its singular focus on the living organisms that can help you--if you'll let them--and the superb organization of the content." --The Washington Gardener

"A book about all the things in your garden that help it flourish." --Garden Design Online

"The Washington-based author fills this 320-page book with ways to support wildlife that keeps your yards' ecology in balance" --The Oregonian

"Frdrique Lavoipierre shares fascinating portraits of these creatures, describing their life cycles and showing how they keep the garden's ecology in balance. Also included is helpful information on how to nurture and welcome these valuable creatures into your garden." --Irish Times

Author Bio

Frdrique Lavoipierre is the former director of education at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and author of Garden Allies, a ten-year series of articles published in Pacific Horticulture Magazine. She currently works as a consultant and serves on the editorial advisory group for the American Public Gardens Association.