Book Review: Gardening For the Birds

Gardening For the Birds
How to Create a Bird-Friendly Backyard
by George Adams

444 pages
Timber Press, 2013
List price: $24.95

It's a new season and no better time to put garden plans to work. Want more birds? George Adams has all bases covered in Gardening For the Birds, from Timber Press.

I'm labeling this a reference book, because there's little else you'll need to refer to when planning a bird-friendly garden. He's taken into account where you live, what types of birds you want, and what you should grow to attract them. There are common bird profiles and plant profiles and charts galore, making this the ultimate go-to source for the home gardener.

The photography is beautiful, the writing is comprehensive without being overwhelming, and the author has thought of just about everything you'll need to plan a garden where the birds don't just pass through, they'll want to stay and make it their home. This is a book that no complete garden library should be without. Don't just borrow it from the library, get your own, because you won't want to return it.

George Adams is an avid birdwatcher, a landscape designer, a wildlife artist, and a photographer. Drawing on a lifelong interest in natural science and concern for the damage inflicted by the built environment on the natural world, he developed a concept for landscaping in which birds and other wildlife are a vital part of the garden's design.

Read more garden book reviews.
Read Kylee Baumle’s blog, Our Little Acre.