Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design — By Benjamin Vogt

 Landscaping with native plants has encouraged gardeners across the US to embark on a profound scientific, ecological, and emotional partnership with nature. Benjamin Vogt shares his expertise with prairie plants in a richly photographed guide aimed at gardeners and homeowners, making big ideas about design approachable and actionable.

Step-by-step blueprints point readers to plant communities that not only support wildlife and please the eye but that rethink traditional planting and maintenance.

Additionally, Vogt provides insider information on plant sourcing, garden tools, and working with city ordinances. This book will be an invaluable reference in sustainable garden design for those wanting both beautiful and functional landscapes.

Prairie Up is a how-to book on sustainable, artful design for the weekend warrior in all of us. It focuses 100% on native plants and is geared for an introductory audience. It is written with clarity and passion that's accessible to everyone.

It answers questions about natural landscaping, from sourcing plants to creating climate-resilient plant communities, dealing with homeowners associations and code enforcement and the best tools to install and manage your lawn-to-prairie conversion.

Easy to use and illustrated with over 150 color photos, Prairie Up is a practical guide to artfully reviving diversity and wildness in our communities.

THE DETAILS

FORMAT: New, paperback

PUBLISHED: January 24, 2023

ISBN: 9780252086779

PUBLISHER: 3 Field Press

PAGES: 208 pages, 154 color photos

DIMENSIONS: 10"inches H x 8" inches W x 0.5" inches

RATING: ★★★★★

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Benjamin Vogt is the owner of Monarch Gardens, a prairie-inspired design firm in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, that creates natural landscapes for homeowners, businesses, and schools.

 

Benjamin's design and freelance work has been featured in The American Gardener, Better Homes and Gardens, Dwell, Fine Gardening, Gardenista,  Horticulture, Midwest Living, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. For five years (2012-2017) Benjamin wrote an award-winning garden column for Houzz (over 3 million reads with 200 articles).

His home landscape is profiled in the book American Roots (Timber Press). He is frequently interviewed while speaking nationally on environmental activism and sustainable urban design for wildlife.

Benjamin also is the author of the disruptive, call to action "A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future". Both book are in their 4th printings.

Benjamin has an M.F.A. (Ohio State) and Ph.D. (Nebraska) in English and has taught over fifty college classes for which he's received multiple awards. He is the author of three poetry collections and two unpublished memoirs -- the memoirs are based on family & gardening as well as homesteading the prairie environment in the 1800s.