Book Review: Native Plants for Prairie Gardens

Reviewed by Brett Kerley

First published in 2005, Native Plants for Prairie Gardens is probably more relevant today than ever. June describes viewpoints and topics about native plants that were far ahead of her time, with a rewilding philosophy. 

The first half of the book covers many native gardening practices. Using native plants in your yard, collecting seeds, soil improvement, and weed and pest control. It also covers how these native plants fit into the prairie environment, what is a prairie, and increasing sustainability by incorporating native plants into your garden.

If you want a yard full of low maintenance plants that resemble our native prairie lands then this book has it all. June describes propagation techniques, timing, light, and fertilization of your seedlings. Everything is in there!

The second half of the book covers the actual plants. She gives you the botanical information on each plant, a ‘Plant at a Glance’ look, and a detailed description with occasional stories on the individual plants. She covers wildflowers, grasses, trees and shrubs.

Towards the back of the books there are charts indicating bloom times for these plants. I would have liked a bit more detail in this section, perhaps covering seed growing, when to seed, seeding techniques etc. 

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and it will enhance anyone’s understanding when wanting to learn a sustainable way to garden in an urban setting. 

June Flanagan is a botanist, environmental horticulturist, photographer, and author, who lives in Lethbridge, Alberta. June participated in our EHS speaker series event back in June 2017, inspiring us all about the native plants to our region. To see more about June and the other books she has published visit www.juneflanagan.ca