The Midwest Native Plant Primer: what an accurate title! This beautiful reference book should also have a place of honor on coffee tables of garden enthusiasts, whether Midwesterners or not. The photographs and introductory essays provide inspiration and enjoyment. The encyclopedic sections are beautifully illustrated as well. In all, this is an attractive and useful volume I will gladly recommend.

I live in Oklahoma and try to incorporate as many native plants as I can into my planned beds. This insures their continuity and makes my gardens so much more beautiful. This book gave me many tips and ideas that will soon find their home in my garden. Excellent book for gardeners of any skill.

I received a copy of this arc from NetGalley for an honest review. Being new to gardening this was a great book to flip through as I am making decisions for our garden at work. We will be buying a copy for sure. Excellent information, great pictures and answered most of my questions.

The Midwest Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden by Alan Branhagen is a beautiful source of information for home gardening! There are chapters explaining the requirements for plants native to the midwest. The home gardener can choose native plants that will thrive in sun, shade, and prairie. This book includes an expansive list of compatible trees, shrubs, and plants. I really liked the choices for fruit, fragrance and the plants which will be drought tolerant. I love having bees, butterflies, and a variety of birds to visit my garden. This book offers information for planning so many types of gardens such as rock gardens, water gardens, wildflowers, and perennials. The plants are beautifully photographed!
Publication Date: July 7, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a perfect book for today's environmentally conscious gardener. We are realizing more and more that many of the trees, shrubs and flowers that we plant provide no real food for wildlife like birds and pollinators, and that it serves us all to change that (keep in mind that putting out food for the birds does no good if they need caterpillars and other insects to feed their babies). Native plants are also well suited to easily grow in our gardens without extra water or care, so they make double sense. This book talks about these issues and then offers a huge selection of recommended trees, shrubs, ground covers, perennials, etc. by group.

I love that the author also talks about edible varieties, since it makes sense not just to feed wildlife but ourselves too with edible landscaping like elderberries, hazelnuts, etc. Small icons above each plant show if they are particularly good for birds, butterflies, etc.

Some of the plants featured are the ONLY food source for some varieties of butterflies (!), and nobody plants them. It is no wonder so many species are going extinct, and so helpful that guides like this can help us try to help these species.

Color photos are provided for every plant, plus tons of information about bloom times, how to propagate them and much more. Many varieties thrive in partial or full shade, which was another pleasant surprise for me.

I love this book, and have a huge list of plants I want to add to my (already full) gardens now.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.