Primarily with support from the St. Louis Audubon Cathleen Creley Memorial Grant Fund, the Missouri Prairie Foundation has purchased a selection of books on landscaping with native plants and related subjects for the St. Louis Public Library (SLPL). The books were selected to increase awareness of the benefits of native plants and their role in supporting nature’s food web, including supporting insects and by extension birds and other wildlife.
The 32 items being donated represent 18 different titles and include books that are newly published, books that are soon-to-be-published, and classics that are new to the library, as well as additional copies of popular titles the library already had in its collection. Kathy Smith and Sarah Whalen at SLPL assisted throughout the process, and the donated books will include bookplates that acknowledge MPF and the support of the St. Louis Audubon Society’s Creley Grant. A list of donated titles is below (note that not all of the titles are available in the SLPL catalog as of the date of this posting.)
With 17 branches throughout the city, SLPL serves more than 2.3 million visitors each year and has the infrastructure in place to make these educational items available to a diverse population. Ultimately, the goal is more habitat for birds and other wildlife in the City of St. Louis!
The donated titles:
Bees: An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide (Heather Holm)
Growing and Propagating Wildflowers (Harry Phillips)
Tried & True Missouri Native Plants for Your Yard (Missouri Department of Conservation)
The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants (Neil Diboll and Hilary Cox)
Wasps (Eric Eaton)
Hidden Prairie (Chris Helzer)
The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States (Chris Helzer)
To Find a Pasqueflower (Greg Hoch)
Lawns Into Meadows, 2nd edition (Owen Wormser)
Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty & Biodiversity in the Home Garden (Richard Darke and Doug Tallamy)
New Naturalism: Designing & Planting a Resilient, Ecologically Vibrant Home Garden (Kelly Norris)
Missouri Wildflowers: A Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Missouri (2017 edition) (Edgar Denison)
Trees of Missouri Field Guide (Donald Kurz)
The Wildflower Garden Planner (Besa Schweitzer)
Gardening for Moths (Jim McCormac and Chelsea Gottfried)
Flower Bugs (Angella Moorehouse)
Birdscaping in the Midwest: A Guide to Gardening with Native Plants to Attract Birds (Mariette Nowak)
A Backyard Prairie: The Hidden Beauty of Tallgrass and Wildflowers (James L. Ellis and Fred Delcomyn)
Photo of books donated by the Missouri Prairie Foundation with the help of Creley Memorial Grant funds for the St. Louis Public Library by Erika Van Vranken.
