Perfect Earth’s Reference Library

We’ve put together the books, podcasts, and references we’re reading and listening to. Let us know if there is something we should add by emailing info@perfectearthproject.org.

What’s on our Bookshelf

Many of these books are available on Perfect Earth Project’s Bookshop.org shop. When you purchase books through our Bookshop shop, Perfect Earth will receive 10% of the sale.

Environmental Awareness

Dumping in Dixie, Robert Bullard
The Quest for Environmen t al Justice, Robert Bullard
Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Gathering Moss, Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Rise of the American Conservation Movement, Dorceta Taylor
Toxic Communities, Dorceta Taylor

Inspirational / Natural Sciences

Ways of Being, James Bridle
Changes in the Land, William Cronon
The Garden Against Time, Olivia Laing
Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold
The Nature Principle, Richard Louv
Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv
Beauty of the Wild: A Life Designing Landscapes Inspired by Nature, Darrel Morrison
Tokachi Millennium Forest, Dan Pearson with Midori Shintani
Mannahatta, Eric W. Sanders
Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understand of Life on Earth, Zoe Schlanger
Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake
Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard
Forest Forensics, Tom Wessels
The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben
Power of Trees, Peter Wohlleben
Into the Weeds, Tama Matsuoka Wong
Written In Stone, Chet and Maureen Raymo
Comfort of Crow, Margaret Renkl
Close to Home, Thor Hanson
New York Green, Ngoc Minh Ngo

Gardening & Garden Design

Environmental Horticulture, Ross Cameron and James Hitchmough
Rain Gardens, Andy Clayden and Nigel Dunnett
American Woodland Garden, Rick Darke
The Living Landscape, Rick Darke, Doug Tallamy
The Natural Habitat Garden, Ken Druse
Naturalistic Planting Design, Nigel Dunnett
Small Green Roofs, Nigel Dunnett and Rusty Gedge
Sowing Beauty, James Hitchmough
The Northeast Native Plant Primer: 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden, Uli Lorimer
New Naturalism, Kelly D. Norris
Your Natural Garden: A Practical Guide to Caring for an Ecologically Vibrant Home Garden, Kelly D. Norris
Planting: A New Perspective, Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury
Planting in a Post Wild World, Thomas Rainer, Claudia West
Second Nature, Michael Pollen
The Book of Wilding, Isabella Tree
Bringing Nature Home, Douglas W. Tallamy
Nature’s Best Hope, Douglas W. Tallamy
How Can I Help: Saving Nature with Your Yard, Douglas W. Tallamy
Garden Revolution, Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher
Lawns Into Meadows, Owen Wormser
A Way to Garden: A Hands-On Primer for Every Season, Margaret Roach
Readers’ Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening
The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, Tracy DiSabato-Aust
The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden, Roy Diblik

Plant Identification

Manual of Cultivated Plants, L. H. Bailey
Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification, Thomas J. Eipel
Fruit and Twig Key to Trees and Shrubs, William M. Harlow
Plant Identification Terminology, James G. Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris
Keys to Woody Plants, W. C. Muenscher
Bark: A Field Guide to the Trees of the Northeast, Michael Mojtech
The Tree Identification Book, George W. D. Symonds

Fiction, Poetry, and Essays

Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton
All We Can Save, Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson
Wild Iris, Louise Glück
The Book of Delights, Ross Gay
The Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, Ross Gay
The Wild Braid, Stanley Kunitz
You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, Edited by Ada Limón
Devotions: The Selected Poems, Mary Oliver
The Overstory, Richard Powers
Bewilderment, Richard Powers
Barkskins, Annie Proulx
Uprooted, Page Dickey
Casting Deep Shade, C. D. Wright
Walden, Henry David Thoreau
What is a Garden, W. S. Merwin

Cut Flowers and Floral Arranging

Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden: Grow, Harvest, and Arrange Stunning Seasonal Blooms, Erin Benzakein
Fresh Cuts: Arrangements with Flowers, Leaves, Buds, and Branches, Edwina von Gal
Punk Ikebana, Louesa Roebuck

What We’re Listening To

What Blogs and Newsletters We’re Reading

What Websites We Use to Learn About Plants

Audubon: Plug in our zip code and see a list of bird-friendly native plants for your region.
Biota of North America Program: Online, interactive mapping tool that displays the distribution of vascular plant species across North America at county-level resolution, based on verified botanical records
USDA PLANTS: Standardized information about the plant life of the US and its territories, including names, plant symbols, checklists, distributional data, images, and more.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Explore the wealth of native plants in North America. Search over 25,000 native plants by scientific or common name, or choose a family of plants.
Izel Native Plants: Consolidates the inventories of wholesale-only growers and nurseries into a practical mail-in solution. Their online catalog is a great educational tool, providing deep context and stories for each of their plants.
Missouri Botanical Garden: Their Plant Finder tool features over 7,500 ornamental plants, both native and non-native to the US.
Mount Cuba Center: Learn about plant trials that study cultivars and more.
National Wildlife Federation (NWF): Find out the keystone plants in your ecoregion and the insects they support.
Native Plant Trust: Discover what native plants are best for your site, purchase plants, and learn about Northeast native plants through online resources, videos, and classes. Learn all about plant identification and use a virtual dichotomous key through Go Botany.
Prairie Moon Nursery: Plant lists available in a printed catalog and their website, which is searchable by key factors such as sun, moisture, native range, and bloom time.
Xerces: Read their list of pollinator-friendly native plant lists

What Organizations We Learn From

Promoting nature-based, toxic-free land care practices for the health of people, their pets, and the planet.