BBG Releases Newest Handbook: Great Natives for Tough Places

Release Date: November 9, 2009

Brooklyn, New York—Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) announces the release of its new All-Region Guide, Great Natives for Tough Places, which brings fresh attention to tough, adaptable, low-maintenance plants that are indigenous to the continental United States and Canada.

Tough gardening spaces abound in every part of the country, whether they have extremes of sun or shade; are extraordinarily wet or dry; or have compacted, nutrient-depleted or otherwise flawed soil. Great Natives for Tough Places features 120 native plants that have evolved to naturally cope with those inhospitable microclimates and poor soil conditions so common in today's urban and suburban backyards. These extraordinary native plants are presented in an encyclopedia format, with superb color photos. Compact, information-packed chapters on site-appropriate design, propagation, and care provide an additional bounty of practical knowledge for both the novice and experienced gardener.

Editor Niall Dunne has brought together the finest experts on the subject—including BBG's own horticulturists. Says Dunne, "We're excited to show readers how to put together exquisite gardens with great plants that don't have invasive tendencies. Great Natives for Tough Places also focuses on plants that provide habitat for native species of insects, birds, and other wildlife, many of which have developed close associations with indigenous flora."

What's Inside

• Portraits of more than 120 gorgeous native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and vines, with a focus on adaptations to tough sites
• A guide to problematic growing conditions common in urban and suburban environments
• Commonsense gardening strategies for tricky spots
• Great ideas for handsome aromatic containers
• Five simple design projects, with growing tips, plant lists, and color illustrations

For more information on Great Natives for Tough Places, please visit bbg.org/greatnatives.

Niall Dunne is former editor of Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Plants & Gardens News and Urban Habitats. Dunne also edited the BBG handbook Healthy Soils for Sustainable Gardens. He holds an MA in English from University College Dublin and an MS in ecology and evolution from Rutgers University. He currently lives in Seattle and manages publications for Arboretum Foundation at Washington Park Arboretum.

The New York Times Book Review calls BBG's handbook series a "brilliant collection of little gardening handbooks.... Each one takes a small bite of subject matter and chews it thoroughly...the mix of common sense, practical advice and, on occasion, pointed debunking...makes these slender volumes do the work of books twice their size and three times their price. And what the handbooks...lack in acreage they make up for in authority."

Ordering Information

Great Natives for Tough Places (ISBN: 978-1-889538-48-8) is available at a discount directly from Brooklyn Botanic Garden at shop.bbg.org, or by calling 718-623-7280. It is also available in bookstores and at garden centers for $12.95 in the U.S./$16.95 in Canada. To see the entire series, visit bbg.org/handbooks.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden handbooks have been published continuously since 1945. They are the only series of popular gardening books published by a botanic garden in North America. Written by top gardening experts and packed with spectacular color photos, All-Region Guides to a Greener Planet offer 120 pages full of ideas on how to make your garden beautiful, bountiful, and ecologically sensible. BBG's Guides are printed with soy-based ink on 100% postconsumer recycled paper.