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Plant Native
A Practical Guide to Over 100 Native Plants of North America
Fair warning: our founder, Emily Lessard, wrote this one, so file us under biased. Meet 100 native plants from North America, each paired with a gorgeous illustration and yard-friendly planting tips. It’s pretty enough to gift, and useful enough to get dirt on. Each $23 pre-order helps support The Plant Native.
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There are hundreds of books about native plants. These are our favorites, sorted by where you garden, so you can skip straight to the shelf that fits your yard.
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Jump to Start here Midwest Northeast South Southwest Northwest California Super nerdy
Best native gardening books to start with
Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants
Douglas W. Tallamy, 2009 (updated edition)
If your neighbor ripped out half her lawn last spring, there’s a decent chance this book is why. Doug makes the case for native gardens so plainly that the lawn starts to look a little suspicious. Start here.
The Pollinator Victory Garden
Kim Eierman, 2020
Lovely to flip through, and useful once you stop flipping. Kim gives season-by-season picks for butterflies and bees, with photos on nearly every page.
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2024
A small, lovely book you can finish in an afternoon with a pot of tea. Robin starts with one native shrub, the serviceberry, and ends up somewhere much bigger.
The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden
Rick Darke and Douglas W. Tallamy, 2014
The writing gets a little academic in places, but the photos more than make up for it. Proof that a yard can be gorgeous and still feed the neighborhood birds.
How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard
Douglas W. Tallamy, 2025
Doug answers beginner questions one at a time, FAQ-style. Perfect if a whole book of argument feels like a lot right now.
Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard
Douglas W. Tallamy, 2020
The iconic one. Doug makes the case that all our yards, added together, can do what parks alone can’t.
Best books for Midwest native plants
Got Sun? 200 Best Native Plants for Your Garden
Carolyn Harstad, 2013
Reads like a friend walking you around her garden with a coffee in hand. Two hundred sun lovers, and a great match for Midwestern gardens.
Go Native! Gardening with Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest
Carolyn Harstad, 1999
Older and chattier, with few color photos. Still a fun read.
The Midwest Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden
Alan Branhagen, 2020
One plant at a time, each with its own photo portrait. Handy when you know the spot but not the plant.
Native Plants of the Midwest: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best 500 Species for the Garden
Alan Branhagen, 2016
A fantastic overview of Midwestern options. Think of it as the big sister to the primer above: 500 species instead of 225.
Best books for Northeast native plants
A Northern Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants and Pollinators
Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla, 2023
Easy to read, full of pictures and packed with ideas for Northeast gardeners. It also tells you which pollinators each plant feeds, which is the page you’ll keep coming back to.
Deer-Resistant Native Plants for the Northeast
Ruth Rogers Clausen and Gregory D. Tepper, 2021
If the deer treat your yard like a salad bar, this one’s for you. Clearly organized, with tons of pictures.
The Northeast Native Plant Primer: 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden
Uli Lorimer, 2022
Tons of pictures, organized plant by plant. A quick flip that tends to end with a shopping list.
Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening and Conservation
Donald J. Leopold, 2005
The prose leans academic, but it’s a great reference for Northeast gardens. Keep it on the shelf for when you want the full story on a plant.
Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America
Merritt L. Fernald and Alfred C. Kinsey, 1943 (Dover reprint)
Delicious and beautiful native options from a field guide first published in 1943. Pair it with a good ID guide before you taste anything.
Best books for Southern native plants
The Southeast Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden
Larry Mellichamp and Paula Gross, 2020
The Southern sibling of the primers above. Illustrated, easy to get around in, made for browsing.
Best Native Plants for Southern Gardens
Gil Nelson, 2010
The deep-dive pick. Gil knows these plants cold, and there’s an image for nearly everything. Pair it with our Southeast guide.
Gardening with Native Plants of the South
Sally and Andy Wasowski, 2020 edition (first published 1994)
Full of real garden photos, which helps when you’re trying to picture natives next to a driveway instead of out in a field.
Florida’s Incredible Wild Edibles
Florida Native Plant Society (Richard J. Deuerling and Peggy S. Lantz), 2021
Florida’s plants are so expansive, and this little book turns them into edible inspiration.
Best books for Southwest native plants
The Southwest Native Plant Primer: 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden
Jack Dash, Luke Takata and the Arizona Native Plant Society, 2025
The desert edition of the primer series, with the same plant-by-plant photo portraits. A good first stop for Southwest gardens.
The Rocky Mountain Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden
Lauren Springer and Bryan Fischer, 2026
Brand new this year and written for gardens at altitude. If you garden in Colorado, Utah or anywhere up the Rockies, start here.
Landscaping with Native Plants of the Southwest
George Oxford Miller, 2007
Southwestern gardens have zillions of excellent, drought-friendly options. Meet them here.
Native Host Plants for Texas Butterflies: A Field Guide
Jim Weber, Lynne M. Weber and Roland H. Wauer, 2018
Planting for butterflies? Live in Texas? This one’s for you.
Best books for Northwest native plants
Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest
Arthur R. Kruckeberg and Linda Chalker-Scott, 2019 (third edition)
The rain-soaked Pacific Northwest is home to so many iconic natives. Meet your favorites here, then find them a spot in your Northwest garden.
Best books for California native plants
The Drought-Defying California Garden: 230 Native Plants for a Lush, Low-Water Landscape
Greg Rubin and Lucy Warren, 2016
California has some of the most striking plants anywhere, including the world’s oldest and tallest trees. This one shows how to bring that lush look home on very little water. Pair it with our California and Nevada guide.
Super nerdy, super fun
Go deeper into the backstories and history behind some of North America’s most iconic plants.
Saving the Wild South: The Fight for Native Plants on the Brink of Extinction
Georgann Eubanks, 2021
Georgann road-trips across the South to meet rare native plants and the people trying to keep them around. Part travelogue, part rescue story.
Seasons of the Desert: The Wellness Wisdom of Southwestern Native Plants
Sonoran Rosie, 2025
A season-by-season look at Southwestern desert plants and the traditions that grew up around them. Gorgeous to flip through.
Held by the Land: A Guide to Indigenous Plants for Wellness
Leigh Joseph, 2023
Leigh Joseph, a Squamish ethnobotanist, shares the plants her community has relied on for generations, and how to harvest them with respect.
Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science
Enrique Salmón, 2020
Plant portraits that put Indigenous knowledge and Western science side by side. Dip in anywhere.
In Defense of Plants: An Exploration into the Wonder of Plants
Matt Candeias, 2021
From the host of the In Defense of Plants podcast: a fast, funny tour of the strange things plants get up to when nobody’s looking.
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
Zoë Schlanger, 2024
The science of what plants can sense and do. Expect to stare at your houseplants a little differently afterward.
Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2003
Robin’s first book, all about the tiny plants most of us walk right over. Quiet, lovely and weirdly gripping.
Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources
M. Kat Anderson, 2005
How California’s Native peoples shaped the land for thousands of years. Dense in places, but it changes what you picture when you hear the word ‘wild.’
Botanica North America
Marjorie Harris, 2003
A coffee-table book for history lovers. Marjorie tells the stories you won’t find on a plant tag (the Lakota used little bluestem in their moccasins).
Explore native plant profiles
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