If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need

- Cicero

As a gardener who is also a librarian, I'm always excited when a great new gardening book comes along. Integrated Landscaping: Following Nature's Lead is an innovative, down-to-earth approach to the way we look at the landscape around us. Instead of the usual encyclopedia of plants and basic techniques found in most landscaping books, Integrated Landscaping deals with the landscape as a whole.

The book's idea of following nature's lead gets us to think in terms of native ecosystems and illustrates how each layer supports and is supported by the others, from the soil up. Although the book incorporates sound ideas that could be put to good use in any part of the country, its focus is on the Northeast. New Hampshire's population has more than doubled since the 1960s, greatly changing the look of our once-rural state. As a manual to help us in planning and designing, as well as choosing appropriate plants and caring for them, Integrated Landscaping seeks to preserve New Hampshire's disappearing natural landscape by giving us the tools to create gardens that look as if they belong here.

The book is a collaboration of four talented New Hampshire women, each with a different area of expertise. Kate Harnett is a natural resource geographer, who wanted the book to be a tool for homeowners. Mary Tebo is an urban forester, who sought to add information for commercial and public settings.

Marilyn Wyzga is an artist and wildlife educator, who is interested in enhancing landscapes to invite wildlife. Lauren Chase Rowell is a landscape professional and teacher.

The concept started out as a searchable database of alternatives to invasive plants, then evolved into a field guide.

"Finally we realized that what New Hampshire needed was a book illustrating an approach to planting systems with canopy trees, understory shrubs and vines, and ground level herbaceous plants and groundcovers," said Harnett.

The way the authors have blended their strengths so seamlessly further reinforces the idea that our gardens and home landscapes are part of an interconnected web.

"We need to recognize that everything is part of a larger system and we need to understand how they work together," said Wyzga.

The book takes a holistic approach to landscaping, using natural ecosystems as examples. "The book models what we are saying. On every page the ideas of the four of us are integrated and woven together," said Chase Rowell.

We hear a lot about sustainability these days, but how does it apply to gardening? In Integrated Landscaping the authors use the word "sustainable" to mean a system that perpetuates itself with little or no help from us.

"If we allow natural processes within the system to do their best work we can expend less time, energy and money in the long run and have more time to enjoy and connect with it," said Wyzga.

Rural areas are disappearing fast and native plants and animals suffer because of it. How we use land and energy are the roots of most environmental problems we face.

Integrated Landscaping is rich with information that is readily accessible. It packs the knowledge of several resources into one volume, including a list of invasive plants and a seasonal calendar for maintaining wildlife habitat.

Single page