BOOK REVIEW: Wild Suburbia by Barbara Eisenstein
Review by Susan Krzywicki, CNPS-San Diego Member
You can order the book from the publisher, Heyday Books, at this link.
Barbara Eisenstein’s “Wild Suburbia: Learning to Garden with Native Plants” is a useful, easy to use guide that belongs on the shelf of anyone who is interested in creating their native garden by themselves. It is a book for someone who wants to be designer and installer, as well as be a native plant expert.
She, of course, begins with “Before You Start” and moves, step-by-step from there. Barbara has a logical mind, and so the progress through the chapters is clear and helpful.
She winds up with the supreme challenge: How to “Keep Your Garden Alive.” This is probably where most of her readers will find themselves after the initial fun of planting. Here, she places wisdom on watering, how to take care of baby plants to ensure a good success rate, and suggestions on how to avoid the most common mistakes:
· Do your homework
· Use more than one of each plant
· Give them room to grow
· Put friends together
· Work with Mother Nature
· Try, try again
The book is just over 200 pages, with tons of color photos and illustrations. It also includes plant lists, places to buy plants and she even tells us what she’s planted in her own garden in Los Angeles.
My favorite part is the section entitled “Get to Know Your Yard,” especially the part about how to start at the very beginning: Do you want to go all-in, or approach your garden in phases? This is such an important question and answering it de-frazzles many subsequent decisions.
Another gem-filled section, “Formulate Your Plan” includes advice on how to manage expectations from your neighbors.
The author continues to add instructive details throughout. For example, page 60 shows the look of a newly planted garden, and contrasts with the filled-in image about two years later. How many times have we heard this issue about newly installed gardens: “…but the landscape look so sparse! Where are all the plants?” Barbara graphically nails this one.
Barbara, of course, includes her “Top 20” plants – a mix of hybrids and straight species. Some may disagree with the idea of including hybrids. I feel that it is a good starting point in many cases and eventually, when the gardens and the knowledge level reach a certain height, excuse the pun, then the discussion of hybridization becomes more relevant and easier to approach, learn about, and transition to. Many of you may reject this transitional approach, so I hope it doesn’t spoil your view of her book.
Our knowledge level as a group and as individuals has continued to improve and this debate is definitely moving in the right direction.
But the species she chose to highlight are all good ones so I am confident we can recommend this book to other Southern California people.
Minimal issues, in my mind, from this book. I wish the CNPS Native Garden Sign had been included when she went to press. She does show the National Wildlife Federation sign on page 61, though. And Calscape wasn’t as well-known at the point she published. Now, it is a really easy entry point for people new to gardening with native plants.
If you are just starting the garden adventure, or you have a neighbor or friend who is, this is a good book for them. It is compact, paperback, friendly, colorful, and thoughtful. It is for the Do-it-Yourself person who wants to be hands-on through all aspects of the design, installation and care of their garden. With this book, people can start and maintain a straightforward, simple garden that will bring them satisfaction and help them to participate in the native plant garden community.