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To help you navigate the transition from winter’s last chill to the first official blooms of the year, we’ve gathered a collection of literary inspiration for every nature lover.
In keeping with its reputation, March has provided our area with a weather roller coaster this year. Temperatures in the 80s one day, followed by snow showers the next day, but don’t worry, flowers and trees know that the days are getting longer and warmer. From crocus and daffodils to blooming cherry trees, the DMV & WV are ready to put on a beautiful show of nature’s colors.
In anticipation of spring and summer, here are seven books that will inspire, educate, and delight the gardener and nature lover in all of us. We hope you will visit your local bookstore to peruse their shelves or consider ordering from Bookshop.org to support independent bookshops.
For the Flower Lover
Daffodils: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden
Naomi Slade (Author), Georgianna Lane (Photographs by)
In Daffodils: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden, leading garden writer Naomi Slade explores the intriguing history of the genus Narcissus along with its growing and care. Renowned floral photographer Georgianna Lane reveals the breadth of daffodil varieties in a range of breathtaking solid colors and multitoned and ruffled combinations of salmon, pink, peach, orange, and white.
Floraphile’s Almanac: An Illustrated Miscellany
Jessi Evans (Author), Lauren Work (Author)
From wisteria to chamomile to magnolias and more, this lavishly illustrated book invites you to discover over 50 incredible flowers, including beloved favorites such as roses and dahlias and lesser-celebrated but no less lovely varieties like milkweed and dandelions. Organized into five sections – The Icons, The Blossoms, The Healers, The Wild Ones, and The Oddities – entries detail a range of facts, including a flower’s origin, etymology, and pollinators, as well as its pop culture and historical appearances, symbolism, potential uses in recipes and bouquets, and more!
It’s All About Pollen
Butterfly Gardening: The North American Butterfly Association Guide
Jane Hurwitz (Author)
An indispensable resource for aspiring and experienced butterfly gardeners alike, Butterfly Gardening is the most gardener-friendly source on the subject, covering all the practical details needed to create a vibrant garden habitat that fosters butterflies. It tells you which plants support which butterflies, depending on where you live; it describes what different butterflies require in the garden over the course of their lives; and it shows you how to become a butterfly watcher as well as a butterfly gardener.
Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society Guide Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies
The Xerces Society (Author) Dr Marla Spivak (Foreword by)
In Attracting Native Pollinators, you’ll find ideas for building nesting structures and creating a welcoming habitat for a diverse array of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, moths, and more. Take action to protect North America’s food supply for the future while enjoying a thriving landscape.
Nature Writing and Conservation
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year
Margaret Renkl (Author), Billy Renkl (Artworks by)
In The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl presents a literary devotional: fifty-two chapters that follow the creatures and plants in her backyard over the course of a year. As we move through the seasons – from a crow spied on New Year’s Day, its resourcefulness and sense of community setting a theme for the year, to the lingering bluebirds of December, revisiting the nest box they used in spring – what develops is a portrait of joy and grief: joy in the ongoing pleasures of the natural world, and grief over winters that end too soon and songbirds that grow fewer and fewer. Illustrated with fifty-two original color artworks by the author’s brother, Billy Renkl.
Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard
Douglas W Tallamy (Author)
Douglas W. Tallamy’s first book, Bringing Nature Home, awakened thousands of readers to an urgent situation: wildlife populations are in decline because the native plants they depend on are fast disappearing. His solution? Plant more natives. In this new book, Tallamy takes the next step and outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation. Nature’s Best Hope shows how homeowners everywhere can turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats.
For the Literary Minded
Jane Austen’s Garden: A Botanical Tour of the Classic Novels
Molly Williams (Author), Jessica Roux (Illustrated by)
Through explorations of the botanical inspirations and symbolism in Austen’s work and personal life, as well as historical information about the gardens and landscapes of the Regency Era, Jane Austen’s Garden will transport readers back in time to the lush English landscape of the early 1800s. Accessible, entertaining, and enhanced by the enchanted illustrations of celebrated artist Jessica Roux, this book is a fun twist on a familiar subject that will delight plant lovers and Janeites alike.
Our thanks to Hailey Brock, owner of The Nature Of Reading Bookshop in Madison, NJ, for her recommendations.
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