LITMIR.BIZ

      PREFACE

      HAVING A YARD or garden enables almost every homeowner, gardener, and landscaper to create a beautiful, low-maintenance native plant sanctuary that sustains native wildlife. Midwestern native plants and birds, butterflies, and bees co-evolved and need each other for a healthy future. The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives to Nonnative Flowers and Plants discussed native herbaceous plant alternatives to Eurasian introductions and nativars (cultivars of native plants). Remembering landscaping mistakes we had made, we noted in the preface to that volume, “Because we love birds, we lined our borders with berry- and fruit-producing trees and shrubs. Later, to our horror, we discovered that most of our well-meaning plant choices were not native to North America and that some were invasive pests. We realized we had made choices without first getting good information.” This book continues the work of the first volume by providing reliable information for midwestern native alternatives to nonnative trees and shrubs.

      When we speak of butterflies, flowers usually come to mind, but “woody plants support more butterfly caterpillars than herbaceous plants.”¹ As a group, native trees and shrubs excel as host plants for butterflies and moths, whose larvae or caterpillars “are disproportionately valuable sources of food for many terrestrial birds, particularly warblers and neotropical migrants of conservation concern.”² What makes native woody plants invaluable to wildlife? “Plants have evolved over time alongside the insect and animal populations that feed and reproduce on them, so planting a variety of plants native to your area is one of the simplest ways of helping out your local wildlife. But . . . on the whole, woody plants like trees and shrubs provide food and shelter to the greatest variety of wildlife. So when choosing where you can have the most impact for your local wildlife, shrubs and trees can be a better bet than perennials and small flowers.”³

      As someone who likes to walk and look, I often wander around my neighborhood, observing the local landscaping. Large trees have been replaced by new homes and large garages. Eurasian burning bush, saucer magnolia, dwarf Korean lilac, Japanese lilac tree, winter creeper, and common boxwood are ubiquitous, but they don’t attract butterflies, bees, or birds. Butterflies are rare, goldfinches are scarce, and migrating birds have become uncommon. Scientific data substantiate the decrease of these once abundant wild creatures.⁴ “The songbirds that brighten spring mornings have been in decline since the 1960s, having lost 40 percent of their numbers so far,” writes entomologist and ecologist Douglas Tallamy. These losses are due “to a host of factors but mainly to habitat loss, which includes displacement of native plants by aliens. The worst invaders are Asian and European.”⁵

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