Released January 9, 2012

"For the most part, Americans who write about nature don't write about the garden – about man-made landscapes and the processes of their making... when we have wanted to think about our relationship to nature, we have gone to the wilderness, to places untouched by man." Michael Pollan, "Second Nature"

It's true, as Michael Pollan said, that few nature writers write about gardens. And yet for most gardeners the impulse to garden grew out of a love of wilderness. Thankfully a shift is occurring. In many recent gardening books, and in some of the best of earlier ones, a respect for nature is the thing that guides and inspires.

Books such as "Bringing Nature Home" and "Last Child in the Woods" remind us that gardens are not primarily about aesthetics but deeply necessary to us as individuals and even globally. They caution that the boundaries of our lands and waters are manmade and in many cases misleading and arbitrary. The best of our landscapes are in keeping with and beneficial to the larger environment and, as a result, offer a sense of place and a sense of connectedness and belonging.

The common thread in the list of books that follows may be best defined as an attitude of humility. Rather than controlling our landscapes, these writers encourage gardeners to be students of the natural world, a quality that ultimately leads to careful stewardship of what Wendell Berry refers to as "the gift of good land."

This list is, of course, just a beginning; but it's January, a time for small beginnings.

Adelman, Charlotte and Bernard Schwartz. "The Midwestern Native Garden"
Ashworth, William. "Ogallala Blue: Water and Life on the High Plains"
Balfour, Lady Eve. "The Living Soul"
Berry, Wendell. "The Gift of Good Land"
Carson, Rachel. "Silent Spring"
Cranshaw, Whitney. "Garden Insects of North America"
Dillard, Annie. "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek"
Leopold, Aldo. "A Sand County Almanac"
Louv, Richard. "Last Child in the Woods"
Mann, Charles. "Uncovering the New World Columbus Created"
Maxwell, Steve. "The Future of Water"
Muir, John. "The Wilderness World of John Muir"
Pollan, Michael. "Second Nature"
Rodale, Robert. "Save Three Lives: A Plan for Famine Prevention"
Tallamy, Douglas. "Bringing Nature Home"
Xerces Society Guide. "Attracting Native Pollinators"
Young, Kay. "Wild Seasons: Gathering and Cooking Wild Plants of the Great Plains"

Books for young people

Albert, Toni. "A Kid's Winter EcoJournal: Nature Activities for Exploring the Season"
Carle, Eric. "Hungry Caterpillar," etc.
Florian, Douglas. "Winter Eyes"
Heinrich, Bernd. "Take a Nature Winter Walk"
Heller, Rugh. "Designs for Coloring Leaves"
Kooser, Ted. "Bag in the Wind"
Sams, Carl R. and Jean Stoick. "A Stranger in the Woods" and "The First Snow in the Woods"
Strother, Ruth. "B is for Blue Planet"
Van Laan, Nancy. "When Winter Comes"
Yolen, Jane. "Owl Moon"

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University of Nebraska, http://ianrnews.unl.edu/static/1201090.shtml

Source: Karma Larsen, (402) 472-2971

Writer: Dan Moser, (402) 472-3007

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