Bringing Nature Home Book Club Questions

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Jump to:

• Bringing Nature Home: Overview Questions
• 🏡 Chapter 1 - Restoring Natives to Suburbia: A Call to Action
• 👩🏼‍🌾 Chapter 2 - The Vital New Role of the Suburban Garden
• 🚫 Chapter 3 - No Place to Hide
• 🐛 Chapter 4 - Who Cares about Biodiversity?
• 🍽️ Chapter 5 - Why Can't Insects Eat Alien Plants?
• 🌱 Chapter 6 - What is Native and What is Not?
• 🤕 Chapter 7 - The Costs of Using Alien Ornamentals
• ⚖️ Chapter 8 - Creating Balanced Communities
• 🦋 Chapter 9 - Gardening for Insect Diversity
• 🏘️ Chapter 10 - Blending in with the Neighbors
• 💪🏼 Chapter 11 - Making It Happen
• 🍁 Chapter 12 - What Should I Plant?
• 🦆 Chapter 13 - What Does Bird Food Look Like?
• 🧐 Chapter 14 - Answers to Tough Questions
• 🌳 Afterword - The Last Refuge
• ❓frequently asked questions

Whether you're new to the concept of landscaping with native plants, or are just getting started, Dr. Dough Tallamy's Bringing Nature Home is a must-read. You may be a homeowner with a garden and landscape to cultivate, or you may just be concerned about climate change and the ecological challenges we face globally - there are critically important details in this book to both educate ourselves on what can be done to sustain wildlife, and how we can instill the importance in others.

While many facts in Bringing Nature Home expose a grim reality, Dr. Tallamy strikes a balance with an optimistic approach to reversing the damage that's already been done on our local environments. Without needing to rely solely on larger systems to solve the challenges, Dr. Tallamy offers opportunity for individuals to take control and make a difference. Many of the concepts are simple, but too few people are aware of these concepts and ideas.

The below questions start with an overview of the entire book, with subsequent questions broken down by chapter. Feel free to use this as a guide while reading, but I should note the primary purpose is for post-reading discussion.

Bringing Nature Home: Overview Questions

1. How familiar were you with native plants and their role in the ecosystem before reading Bringing Nature Home?
2. What ornamental plants do you have in your landscape (or indoor space) that holds a special place in your heart? Is it considered an invasive species?
3. What are two native plants that were either a surprise to you or are plants you would be excited to add to your landscape?
4. Have you noticed a decline in wildlife in your area; for example, fewer "lightning bugs" or bugs in your car headlights?
5. What was one of the most striking statistics or illustrations Dr. Tallamy made about the state of our landscapes in the United States?
6. What are your thoughts about creating "balanced communities," in which nature helps control pests itself without the need for pest control?
7. What ideas has Bringing Nature Home sparked to aid the effort in making native plants a more mainstream initiative?
8. How do you feel when you see a well-manicured lawn? Do you get a satisfying sense of seeing something neat and tidy, or do you feel it's a waste of space (or both)?
9. Did Bringing Nature Home challenge any of your gardening or natural habitat beliefs?
10. What hesitations do you have, or challenges do you face, in turning your landscape into a haven for native species?
11. What does the concept of "bringing nature home" mean to you?

🏡 Chapter 1 - Restoring Natives to Suburbia: A Call to Action

• What are two major consequences of alien (plant) invasion in North America?
• What role can gardeners play in our modern attempts to support wildlife, with the information we have now?

👩🏼‍🌾 Chapter 2 - The Vital New Role of the Suburban Garden

• Why are plants considered a critical part of our food chain?
• Do animals depend directly or indirectly on plants for food?
• What do animals rely on to garner energy from plants?
• What is the first essential resource highlighted in this chapter to help animals survive in our suburban landscapes?

🚫 Chapter 3 - No Place to Hide

• What types of interactions did you have with nature as a child? Were they largely positive, negative, or neutral?
• Dr. Tallamy cites a staggering statistic - "It is curious that the news media have drawn our attention to the loss of tropical forests here in the temperate zone. Only 15 percent of the Amazonian basin haas been logged, whereas well over 70 percent of the forests along our eastern seaboard are gone (Brown 2006)." (pg 29) - How does this strike you?
• Which habitat fragmentation example was most surprising to you?
  • Deforestation of the eastern seaboard
  • Barro Colorado Island
  • Ashdown Forest in Sussex, England
  • U.S. rural population declination and rate of urban development
  • Public road paving
  • Suburban lawn expansion
• Prior to reading Bringing Nature Home, how much land would you have estimated remains undisturbed in the U.S.?
• Was the concept of native vs invasive species of birds new to you?
• Does Dr. Tallamy make a sufficient case for "reconciliation ecology" in this chapter?

🐛 Chapter 4 - Who Cares about Biodiversity?

• Several analogies and hypotheses relating to the role of biodiversity in our ecosystems were reviewed in this chapter (rivet, keystone species, Jenga) - did any of those resonate with you more than another?
• Have you encountered the paperbark tea tree in visits to Florida? Given its negative impact largely established in the U.S., are you surprised at its availability in nurseries?
• What are your thoughts on viewing plants based on their contributions to the ecosystem, as opposed to a simple count of how many species of plant are present?
• Aside from New York Cityy, can you think of any other ecological sink examples?

🍽️ Chapter 5 - Why Can't Insects Eat Alien Plants?

• Do you recall insects in headlights during an evening drive? Have you noticed a decline in this over time?
• Have you gardened with a preference for pest-free plants, and a favorable view of alien ornamentals?
• Do you have any of the "worst offenders" on your property, or have since removed them?
  • non-native honeysuckle
  • Melaleuca paperbark tree
  • autumn olive
  • privet
  • multiflora rose
  • kudzu
  • lantana
  • buckthorn
  • oriental bittersweet
  • purple loosestrife
  • Norway maple
  • burning bush
  • English ivy
  • Japanese knotweed
  • Bradford pear
  • empress tree
  • Japanese barberry
  • wisteria
  • mile-a-minute weed
• Did you find the comparison to food humans can and cannot consume to be an effective example of why native species shun alien plants?
• Did your view on the importance of the insect biomass to birds change your views on how to best support birds in your area?

🌱 Chapter 6 - What is Native and What is Not?

• Did your definition or understanding of "native" plants align with Dr. Tallamy's?
• Did you find the Norway maple example to be a compelling representation of the coevolutionary timeline?
• Dr. Tallamy makes the argument that some plants introduced outside of their evolutionary range can still contribute to the local ecosystem, allowing gardeners a little more "wiggle room" with what they plant in their landscapes. If you garden, do you feel you have a good grasp on what is considered acceptable to your area?

🤕 Chapter 7 - The Costs of Using Alien Ornamentals

• What are your thoughts about alien ornamentals and the import of these plants after reading this chapter?
• Several examples of the havoc these non-native plants can play on the local ecosystem were cited in this chapter - which were the most impactful to you?
  • chestnut blight
  • sudden oak death disease
  • pests including: Japanese beetle, cottony cushion scale, viburnum leaf beetle, citrus long-horned beetle, hemlock woolly adelgid, and balsam woolly adeglid
  • soybean aphid
  • citrus greening disease
  • blister rust
• Were you surprised by the number of alien plants that have become invasive in North America thus far?
• When it comes to understanding your own garden, do you feel you have a thorough understanding of what could escape cultivation and invade other areas local to you?

⚖️ Chapter 8 - Creating Balanced Communities

• Does it feel counterintuitive to use nature as a way to control pests, as opposed to chemicals and many "conventional" methods we've been taught?
• Do you have an innate expectation for perfection in the garden, or are you comfortable with the fact that plants should also provide food for other living creatures?
• What do you think of Sarah Stein's quote: "You can't run a supermarket on just bread, and you can't run an ecosystem on just lawn...Lawns and foundation plantings are a lot simpler than the wild landscapes they replace." (Tallamy 98)
• Does Dr. Tallamy make a sufficient case for creating these balanced communities using native plants?
• How do you control insect populations in your garden?

🦋 Chapter 9 - Gardening for Insect Diversity

• Prior to reading this chapter, did you have largely negative, neutral, or positive feelings towards insects?
• Were you surprised by the fact only 1% of insect species on earth negatively interact with humans?
• What are your thoughts regarding our dependence on the presence of insects to maintain our survival?
• Do you have both nectar-producing plants and host plants in your garden?
• Did this chapter inspire you to plant what will bring a diverse array of butterflies and insects to your space?

🏘️ Chapter 10 - Blending in with the Neighbors

• Have you experienced peer pressure to maintain a landscape with a certain aesthetic that contradicts the concepts presented in this book? Or, have you known someone who has? How did you navigate the challenge?
• Were you familiar with the concept of biophilia prior to reading this chapter?
• How active is your community in supporting wildlife? Is there room for improvement and additional efforts?
• If you were to adopt a species, which would it be?

💪🏼 Chapter 11 - Making It Happen

• Of the following suggestions to transition your landscape to natives, which are you comfortable pursuing (if you haven't already):
  • Rule of attrition - replacing a dead alien plant with a native
  • Redesigning small spaces and slowly reducing your lawn (including incorporating more trees)
  • Three-dimensional garden
  • Leaf litter mulch
  • Combat global warming with more trees and less lawn
  • Be mindful of tree selection
  • Focus on plant diversity
  • Remove invasive species from your landscape
• If you have taken action in your landscape, what was it and what was your experience?

🍁 Chapter 12 - What Should I Plant?

• What trees are native to your region?
• What species would you like to support in your landscape? How do you attract those today, or how would you like to in the future?
• What are your favorite native trees? Do you prefer some ornamentals that could have a native replacement?
• If you plan to incorporate more native plants and trees into your landscape, what is next on your list to help with bringing nature home?

🦆 Chapter 13 - What Does Bird Food Look Like?

• What are your thoughts regarding Dr. Tallamy's quote, "knowledge generates interest, and interest generates compassion" on page 199?
• Are any insects outlined in this chapter species that you struggle to accept?
• After reading the chapter, do you have a better understanding of how these insects contribute to our larger ecosystem?
• Do you have any memorable interactions with these species from your childhood?
• If you plan to entice more of these to visit your landscape, which are you hoping attract?
• Do the details provided in this chapter offer more context to Chapters 8 and 9?

🧐 Chapter 14 - Answers to Tough Questions

• Were any of the questions posed by Dr. Tallamy in this chapter questions you've already asked or wrestled with?
• Has there been any habitat destruction in your area recently?
• What are your thoughts on incorporating native cultivars into your landscape?
• Were there any questions that surprised you?
• What additional questions do you have, or have heard, that you would add to the list?

🌳 Afterword - The Last Refuge

• On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the most concerned), how concerned are you about the future of our natural habitats?
• Do you agree with Dr. Tallamy's point that success of reclaiming landscapes and sustainable habitats lies with us as individuals?

❓frequently asked questions

What is the best plant for wildlife?

There is no one plant that is best for wildlife; rather, a diverse variety of plants that are native to your region will help support wildlife in a number of ways. These include providing shelter and food for insects and the mammals that rely on those insects to complete their lifecycles without interruption. It is best to review what plants are native to your area and support wildlife by incorporating a combination of groundcovers, shrubs, and trees into your landscape. It is important to note that some plant species (like oak trees in the Eastern United States) support a larger number of species than others.

If you live in the United States, I suggest using the Garden for Wildlife native plant finder (and shop) run by the National Wildlife Federation to start your landscape. Many areas have local native plant sales in the spring as well.

What are the best native trees for wildlife?

Tree support for wildlife depends on what is native to your particular area. If we review the list of woody plants ranked by ability to support Lepidoptera species by Kimberley Shropshire, we see that oak, willow, cherry & plum, and birch trees support the most species (Tallamy 147). Again, what is native to your particular region depends on your location and it's worth researching what trees will support the most species of wildlife in your part of the world.

I hope Bringing Nature Home resonated with you, and sparks some interesting discussion! Next steps? Plant native. Doug Tallamy's work is part of an exciting initiative called "Homegrown National Park" - take a peek if you're interested in getting more involved. See you in the garden!

Interested in more reading? Check out Braiding Sweetgrass for your next book club selection - enjoy these discussion questions!