Resources

Search native plant databases, learn stewardship tips and sources for native plants, explore recommended readings, and be inspired to do more for wildlife in your space…

Benefits of Arborist Wood Chips

• How to Get Rid of Your Lawn. Linda Chalker-Scott of the Garden Professors blog. (Describes one method for lawn conversion.)

• Using arborist wood chips as a landscape mulch. Linda Chalker-Scott. Washington State University Extension Fact Sheet FS160E, January 2015.

Why and How to Love your Leaves

• Leave Leaves Alone - Ideas for reducing pollution, saving money, and benefiting wildlife and the environment with your leaves

• Learn about life in decaying leaves here.

• Leave the Leaves! Xerces Society - How to benefit wildlife with leaves

• Learn how leaves can benefit lawn and perennial beds - Fine Gardening

Search native plants appropriate for your area

• National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder by zipcode

• Audubon Native Plants Database

• Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

• Mt. Cuba Center - Native Plant Finder

• NC State - Extension Gardner Plant Toolbox

• Native Plant Trust - Search for New England ecoregions

• North American Native Plant Society - Native Plant Database

• Chesapeake Bay - Native Plant Center

• Jersey Friendly Yards - Searchable Plant Database

Plant lists

• Plant Lists for Native Bees by Heather Holm

• Recommended plants for migratory songbirds

• Selecting Plants for Pollinators, Eastern Broadleaf Forest (Oceanic Province) - Pollinator Partnership, Based on Bailey’s Ecoregions, USFS

• Top Pollinator Plants, Bees, Bugs, Blooms Pollinator Trial, Penn State Extension

• Native Pollinator Plants by Season of Bloom - Wild Seed Project

• Native Plant Profiles from A-Z, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve

• Xerces Society Mid-Atlantic Pollinator Plant List

• Plants for specialist bees

• Guide to creating a native pollinator garden for specialist bees - Cornell

• Rain garden guide from the Lower Merion Conservancy and more info here

• Riparian buffers - PA DCNR

• Native Plants for the Small Yard, Kate Brandes, Lehigh Gap Nature Center

• Application for Pollinator Garden Certification with Seasonal Plant Lists, Penn State Extension

• Complete List of Plants of Montgomery County, PA, (lists both native (N) and introduced (I) species)

• Pennsylvania Plant Communities - Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program

• Palustrine Plant Communities of Pennsylvania

• Natural Communities of Maryland - Maryland Department of Natural Resources

• Guide to Delaware Vegetation Communities

Monarch Butterflies - Monarchs still need our help.  Support the migration and reproduction of these beautiful and iconic butterflies in your space.  

• How You Can Help Monarch Butterflies - Journey North

• Nectar Plants for Monarchs in the Mid-Atlantic - Xerces Society

• Milkweeds of the Mid-Atlantic - Xerces Society

• Monarch Biology - Monarch Joint Venture

• Habitat Design for Monarch Waystations and Configuration and Location of Small Urban Gardens Affect Colonization by Monarch Butterflies - University of Kentucky

• Mixed-Species Gardens Increase Monarch Oviposition - University of Florida and Florida Museum of Natural History

• Deforestation and Monarch Conservation - Monarch Watch

Range maps

• BONAP (Biota of North America Program) - County level species data listed by Genus or State and Province

• USDA Range maps for individual species in the PLANTS Database

• EPA Level III and IV Ecoregions for EPA Region 3

• Explanation of EPA Level III and IV Ecoregions, Woods, Omernik, and Brown 1999.

• DCNR (Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources) Physiographic Provinces of Pennsylvania

• Native Plants and Climate Change - Univ. of Maryland Extension

Other helpful websites

• Homegrown National Park

• Horticultural Myths by Linda Chalker-Scott

• Bringing Nature Home - University of Delaware Entomologist, Doug Tallamy

• United States Department of Agriculture, National Resources Conservation Service - PLANTS Database

• Pennsylvania Flora and Fauna Links (including links to the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (PNHP) and plant communities of Pennsylvania). Pennsylvania Biological Survey (PABS)

• The Pennsylvania Flora Project (including invasive species fact sheets)

• Pennystone - Pennsylvania Sustainable Landscaping

• Landscaping with Native Plants in Pennsylvania - pamphlet. Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

• Native Plant Trust (formally the New England Wildflower Society)

• Ecological Landscape Alliance

• Green Guide for Property Management (ideas to reduce stormwater pollution)

• Lower Merion Conservancy Stormwater Resources

Community Stewardship and Pollinator Action Plans

• Lower Merion and Narberth Pollinator Pathway

• Homegrown National Park

• Great Barrington Pollinator Action Plan

Good Books

• Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2007

• Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2020

• The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2021

• A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future by Benjamin Vogt, 2017

• Native Plants of the Northeast by Donald J. Leopold, 2005

• Native Trees, Shrubs & Vines. A guide to using, growing, and propagating North American woody plants by William Cullina, 2002

• The Northeast Native Plant Primer: 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden, 2022 by Uli Lorimer, Native Plant Trust

• Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England by William Cronon, September 2003

• The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest by Rick Darke, 2002

• Wild Plant Culture: A Guide to Restoring Edible and Medicinal Native Plant Communities by Jared Rosenbaum, 2022

• Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard, May 4, 2021

• Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them by Paige Embry, 2018

• Win-Win Ecology: How the Earth's Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise by Michael L. Rosenzweig, 2003

• The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy, 2014

• Designing with Natives: A roadmap for backyard design and stewardship using native plants by John Rogers, 2011

• Field and Forest. A Guide to Native Landscapes for Gardeners and Naturalists by Jane Scott, 1984

• The Once and Future Forest: A Guide To Forest Restoration Strategies by Leslie Sauer, Ian McHarg (Foreword), 1998

• Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants by Heather Holm, 2014

• The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening; Attract and Support Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, Bats, and Other Pollinators by Kim Eierman, 2020

Insect Guides

• Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History (Princeton Field Guides) by David L. Wagner, 2018

• Summer butterfly guide for Philadelphia, PA - The Academy of Natural Sciences, Drexel University

Native Bees

• Quick Background on the Mid Atlantic Region’s Native Bees - Sam Droege, USGS

• Plant Lists for Native Bees by Heather Holm

• Native Bee Identification Poster

• Book: Bees. An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide by Heather Holm, 2017

• USGS Native Bee Inventory Monitoring Lab

• Pollinator of the Month - U.S. Forest Service

Info on how to build a wildlife pond

• Xerces Society - Backyard Ponds - Guidelines for Creating & Managing Habitat for Dragonflies & Damselflies

• Pat Sutton’s 2-page wildlife pond primer

  • Pat Sutton’s Wildlife Garden

• Water for Wildlife: Bird baths and backyard ponds - Excellent summary article by Penn State Extension

• Migratory Dragonfly Partnership

• Buy native pond/wetland plants. Note: Avoid buying invasive non-native species. Double check the genus and species names before purchase.

  • Redbud Native Plant Nursery (Media, PA)

  • Center Point Pond (Worcester Twp, PA)

  • Clearwater Pond and Aquatics - 1060 Reading Rd, Narvon, PA 17555

  • Kind Earth Growers (Ottsville, PA) - Retail market during limited hours (check website)

  • Ponds, Plants and More - Bentleyville, PA (south of Pittsburgh)

  • Nature’s Aquatics - Baden PA (north of Pittsburgh)

• Pennsylvania Field Guide to Aquatic Invasive Species

• See “Wild Your Garden by Joel Ashton” on YouTube:

  • How to Make a Wildlife Pond: Part 1 (Digging the pond)

  • How to Make a Wildlife Pond: Part 2 (Lining the pond)

  • How to Make a Wildlife Pond: Part 3 (Planting the pond)

• 2013 webinar about dragonfly life history, ecological roles, conservation status, and habitat needs - National Resources Conservation Service, Xerces Society

How to protect new tree plantings from deer browse

Click the image below…