Conscious Choice: Native Plants in the Upper Midwest

DIET FOR A DEAD PLANET: How the Food Industry is Killing Us, by Christopher D. Cook (The New Press, $24.95).

As you walk through the supermarket, do you ever stop and wonder how fruits and vegetables that are out of season continue to remain in stock? Or how about the working conditions in those slaughterhouses where the meat you purchase comes from? Well, for those of you who have, Diet for a Dead Planet: How the Food Industry is Killing Us, written by Christopher D. Cook, sets out to answer these questions, and much more.

From the start, Cook makes it clear that his book is not about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or fast food. Instead, he tackles the much more important issues that the American food system is facing. These include the family farms crisis and the grim conditions faced by food-industry workers.

Through engrossing examples, this well-written book explores what our society eats and the devastating effects our choices can have socially, economically and environmentally.

Yet, Cook contends that the outlook for the food industry might be changing. After all, organic foods have become increasingly popular over the last dozen years. Isn’t some hope on the horizon? However, Cook points out, the popularity of organic food is simply not enough. And he makes a valid point. After all, what does organic food really mean if the workers who produce it are subjected to horrendous working conditions?

Ultimately, Cook believes, every part of the food process must be taken into account — “consumers, workers, farmers, the environment, and even animals” — in order to save the food industry. That, he argues, is the only way to ensure our survival. (Christine Mangan)

LOST STAR OF MYTH AND TIME, by Walter Cruttenden. (St. Lynn’s Press, $19.95.)

In Lost Star of Myth and Time, Walter Cruttenden makes a compelling case for our planet being influenced by a companion star to our sun. And he manages to do this in an exciting way, without reams of incomprehensible scientific information and boring charts.

Referring to the architecture of the great pyramids and other great monuments as well as lore from diverse ancient cultures, Cruttenden takes us back to the wisdom of those who once recognized distinct correlations between earthly and celestial events. He then fast-forwards to the more recent work of astrophysicists.

Cruttenden suggests that a binary star relationship is responsible for precession — the gradual progression of the equinoxes along an elliptical path caused by the gravitational action of the sun and moon upon the earth — as well as the rise and fall of several civilizations and the Dark and Golden Ages. He is not an astronomer, nor is he as famous or controversial a figure as Copernicus, who first suggested that our solar system was actually sun-centered.

Even so, there seems a kernel of truth in his assertions, since many astronomers now agree that most stars are likely part of binary or multiple star systems.

While Cruttenden suggests a 24,000-year cycle of change — called a “Great Year” by Plato — at least one astrophysicist believes binary cycles start at 26 million years. Regardless of this, Lost Star provides a fresh perspective on the rhythms of our planet and solar system within the greater universe.
(Susan DeGrane)

April 2006 | Conscious Reading

Native Plants in the Upper Midwest

By Keith Gerard Nowakowski

Getting to know and enjoy the beauty of prairie plants is an exciting and fulfilling adventure. You may have gardened all your life and enjoyed the magnificence of prairie or woodland wildflowers on your visits to the local nature preserve, never thinking about how or if these interesting plants could be used in your own home landscape. Increasingly though, you have probably heard about or seen others using these plants around their homes, while wondering how you could become familiar enough with their culture and habits to use them in a well-designed landscape of your own — a landscape that doesn’t look like a weed patch or offend the neighbors but allows you to enjoy its unique beauty and the birds and butterflies it attracts. These questions and concerns are the reason this book was written — to help anyone interested in learning more about Midwestern plants, their culture, and potential uses in the designed home landscape.

So few people seem to know about plants native to the Midwest, plants such as Prairie Smoke, Blue-Eyed Grass, Bloodroot, Staghorn Sumac, or Hophornbeam. This is a shame but not surprising. Much of these plants’ native habitat has been converted to agricultural or residential use; they are rarely promoted on gardening shows or available at nurseries. Historically, these plants have been overlooked as possible candidates for use in the home landscape in favor of imports from Europe and Asia. With names that often incorporate the words wild, common, or weed, who would think of them as ornamentals? Fortunately, increasing numbers of people are recognizing their ornamental qualities as well as their environmental attributes. These people want dynamic landscapes that offer them a reason to get out in their yards other than to mow the lawn or trim the hedge. This book is intended as a guide to help you through the process of designing just such a landscape.

Unlike most home landscapes, a landscape that takes its inspiration from surrounding wild areas is more than just a disparate mix of plants. It is a community of plants that reflect the natural heritage of the region. In Chapter One, “A Tallgrass Prairie Timeline,” a review of this heritage is presented. The tallgrass prairie is a relatively young ecosystem, dating back only to the end of the Great Ice Age about 10,000 years ago; but the conditions that created, maintained, and ultimately destroyed the tallgrass prairie are fascinating and helpful in appreciating the remnants that are still around.

In Chapter Two, “The Benefits of Using Wildflowers and Other Native Plants,” some advantages of regional landscaping are discussed. A home landscape that incorporates adapted regional plants and reduces the area devoted to lawn has much to recommend it over conventional landscape design. Once the plants are established, maintenance is less tedious, irrigation is eliminated, fertilizers and pesticides are not needed, diversity of life is increased, seasonal change in the landscape is observed, and a sense of place is established. These benefits and more are soon realized with properly chosen plant material.

There are, however, many choices to consider when thinking about regional design; how do you begin to narrow the range of possibilities? Chapter Three, “Where Do I Begin?” explains how visiting nearby nature preserves and getting to know the plants growing there, as well as evaluating your own yard and your individual needs, can help you create a landscape that takes its inspiration from these natural areas while containing plants that suit you, your yard, and your neighbors.

Found in prairies and woodland edges, Gray Dogwood forms a colony at strongly vertical stems from a spreading root system.

Photo: Gary J. Kling

In Chapter Four, “Plants of the Tallgrass Region,” more than 80 plant species, including trees, shrubs, wildflowers, ferns, sedges, and grasses native to the tallgrass prairie region, are described, including their culture and how they might be used in the designed home landscape. These plants were chosen for their visual appeal, multiple seasons of interest, ease of culture, commercial availability, and suitability to a small site. With the same care that should be given to any good landscape design, a yard containing these plants will put on a display that is hard to beat and will be the envy of your neighbors.

Getting you to remove all of your lawn (as well as other exotic plant material) and turning your yard into a wildflower meadow is not the intent of this book. Nor is that approach usually the most attractive option in a small yard. Municipal weed laws should not even be an issue with our approach. Simply reduce the area devoted to lawn, and incorporate these natives into planting beds as you would any exotic plant from Europe or Asia. Chapter Five, “Landscape Designs with Nature in Mind,” offers a few examples.

The success of your new landscape, however, depends on how, when, and where you install your plants, as well as how well you maintain them. In Chapter Six, “Installing and Maintaining Your Home Landscape,” some basic tasks involved in preparing, installing, and maintaining your landscape are reviewed. Proper handling and care of your plant can help them become established in their new homes more quickly and allows you to enjoy their many benefits sooner.

I hope that this book entices you to look at your yard with new eyes, that it encourages you to explore alternatives to the status quo in landscape design, and that you use these ideas not only in your backyard but in areas visible from the street as well. As Michael Pollan wrote in Beyond Wilderness and Lawn (Harvard Design, Winter/Spring 1998), “Gardening, as a cultural activity, matters deeply, not only to the look of our landscape, but also to the wisdom of our thinking about the environment.”

Excerpted with permission from the introduction of Native Plants in the Home Landscape, For The Upper Midwest, University of Illinois press, $24.95. To order, visit webstore.aces.uiuc.edu/ or call 800-345-6087.

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