In a Garden Library
NATIVE PLANTS
Identifying, Visiting, and Growing
B y B r i a n R . T h o mp s o n
Gardening With Our Native Plants
Art Kruckeberg (1920–2016) has a legend-
ary reputation for his research and teaching in
botany, and for his expansion of that work into the
natural history and geology of selected ecosys-
tems. But for gardeners, he is best remembered
for his classic “Gardening with Native Plants of
the Pacific Northwest,” first published in 1982
and followed by a second edition in 1996.
Linda Chalker-Scott is rapidly develop-
ing her own renown for books that encourage
learning the science behind growing plants. Now
she has taken on the major task of guiding the
publication of a third edition of “Gardening with
Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest.” This is
not just an editorial update. It is a collaboration
from different perspectives and eras.
Kruckeberg was a professor of botany
for nearly four decades at the University of
Washington until his retirement in 1989. In his
first edition of “Gardening with Native Plants…,”
he acknowledged the help of several individuals
26 v Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin
who figured prominently at the Arboretum in
the mid- to later 20th century, including Brian
Mulligan, Roy Davidson, Joe Witt, C. Leo
Hitchcock and Sylvia Duryee—as well as his wife,
the horticulturist Mareen Kruckeberg, whom he
credited for conceiving the book.
Chalker-Scott is an associate professor
of horticulture and extension specialist at
Washington State University. Her contribu-
tions to the new edition further enhance our
understanding of native plants in their natural
setting and what we need to do to make them
thrive in the not-very-natural setting of a
typical home garden.
If you’re familiar with the older editions, the
first thing you’ll notice in the new book is the
inclusion of many color photographs—almost
one for every text entry. Each photograph has
a selection of habitat icons “to help gardeners
both visualize the best natural settings for native
plants and identify environmental preferences.”
For example, a plant may naturally grow in the
full sun of a meadow or prairie, or it may need the
superb drainage of a rock garden. Plants may be
best adapted for wetlands or drylands, or perhaps
a woodland or even a seashore. Another symbol
marks plants especially successful in restora-
tion projects. The new edition also updates the
plant taxonomy, reflecting the recent publication
of the second edition of the “Flora of the Pacific
Northwest.” (See my review in the Spring 2019
issue of “The Bulletin.”)
For those new to this book, the breadth of the
plant selection may be surprising—as we have