Book Review: New Naturalism by Kelly Norris

We were excited for the release of New Naturalism from our friend and fellow gardener Kelly Norris that was just released. After receiving it in the mail (and hurriedly unwrapping it) I made a cup of tea and sat down to read through what promises to be an excellent book on the future of gardening.

Kelly is a garden writer and horticulturist whose work in gardens has been featured in The New York Times, Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, Fine Gardening, Garden Design and Garden Rant among others. A big name in the garden and plant world, he’s also a fan of really interesting and cool plants (as seen in the book Plants with Style) has bred irises (of which we wait for the blooms in spring with eager anticipation!), and is also just a wonderful and kind and amazing individual to boot! He also seems to be able to anticipate what is going to be the next big thing with plants and gardening, and we were excited to hear his thoughts on what appears to be a planting movement that is taking root in the gardening world - that of naturalism and wild (or wild-like) plantings.

Overall the book is really great - I think it is innovative in the way that Kelly talks about looking at plants and identifying them not only as their role visually in a planting but also the way that they exist biologically as well. Section 1 is about the understanding of plants and how they exist and coexist in nature. Kelly has quite a bit of experience observing plants in their natural communities, and discusses how plants exist as far as density, biodiversity and growth patterns based off his observations both in their natural environments as well as in the home garden setting.

As opposed to the usual gardening adage of improving the soil and preparing beds with lots of organic matter (in the style of the English border or vegetable garden), Kelly takes a different approach in evaluating the sites and appreciating them for what they are instead of trying to terraform them into a typical garden bed. Indeed, much of the book shows appreciation for nonideal growing environments (including a section on growing in hellstrips and around concrete sidewalks!) I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to be reassured that growing in an environment (for us, New Mexico) that is decidedly not the moist, temperate environment of the Northeast or Midwest can still foster great biodiversity and host a wide variety of plant species that can be appreciated in their own right.

One might say that the entirety of New Naturalism is focused on trying to adapt to our environment as opposed to transforming our environment to adapt to our desires and aspirations. As most gardeners will tell you, in the end it is far easier to work with your given circumstances of climate, location, soil and existing species rather than trying to struggle with plants that won’t work well in your environment.

Take for example our very dry, high elevation, very sunny high desert Zone 7b garden. While hostas will never grow fully and lushly the way they would in a more temperate environment, there are still a wide variety of plants available to us that we could not grow in other environments that have richer soil, more precipitation and more humid conditions (most would either struggle or outright die in such an environment that they were not adapted to).

Instead of hydrangeas, there are rabbitbrush plants (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) that will get as large as a hydrangea but are perfectly adapted to the small amount of precipitation we receive and will thrive in the dry, sunny environment we have.

The second section is a bit more hands-on, giving descriptions of the different environments you may be growing in and suggestions of plants to grow in those given environments.

If you’re looking for a very straight-forward book with illustrations of paint-by-number garden designs and species lists, this isn’t it. This book will challenge you to really think about your garden as far as the conditions you are growing in, the overall effects of the environment on the plants that will be growing within and how it will look not just when freshly planted, but as it grows and matures and plants spill into each other and start interacting with each other as well.

Kelly delves into quite a few garden spaces as well - planting close to the home, in courtyards, next to driveways, under trees, in that boggy, moist portion of your yard, giving suggestions and strategies for working with unusual circumstances and conditions. For example, he discusses the plants that tend to germinate and flourish in the cracks of sidewalks or between pavers such as Erigeron spp. - but instead of viewing it as a weed or nuisance to take note and observe how they grow and develop. Perhaps they can be a “steppable” plant that works well in the garden in between your pavers? Or one could see the conditions they like and then create a designated bed for their planting, such as a rockery.

I really like the way that Kelly has taken his experiences and observations in the vast array of gardens and plants he has worked with to be able to shed some light on the ecology of plants from different environments and has given context to them fitting into the home garden. It takes a certain person to be able to take a relatively obscure plant from the wild and be able to translate that into the home garden setting, and I think Kelly has a gift in recognizing how plants fit together both as far as ecological combination and design combination as well.

And I think that is the key. Gardening ecologically without any regard for design and esthetics can appear chaotic, unkempt, possibly even weedy (*gasps and clutches pearls*) - and although I have a particular penchant for the wild and natural, design and esthetics must be taken into consideration. Indeed, the meadow/wildflower/prairie-type esthetic of Piet Oudolf and other New Perennial designers while appearing to be a wild planting that has just sprung up spontaneously in nature is actually a carefully designed and intentionally planted and maintained garden or planting that is anything but wild.

Alternatively, gardening without consideration for the environment and growing conditions will make for a frustrating and inevitably disappointing endeavor. Planting and replanting and replanting again a plant palette that does not work in the environment is an exercise in folly (ask me how I know!) while if the environment and growing conditions are taken into consideration, researched, and the correct varieties are selected, gardening becomes far more easy and more enjoyable.

In fact, this book speaks so readily to me because of the unique growing environment we have here. Hot, dry summers with little to no precipitation whatsoever in contrast with cold, harsh, windy winters and long periods of freezing and thawing temperatures eliminates quite a few plants that will truly perform well here. Yes, you can plant hydrangeas and hostas (in limited amounts and mostly in containers that need to be watered sometimes twice a day in the summer) but the most sensible thing is to seek out plants that will grow very well in the environment that you exist in.

This year we started really increasing the number of native plants (or at least plants that come from similar conditions to the ones that we live in). Eragrostis trichodes, Agastache pallidiflora, Salvia greggii and other drought tolerant, sturdy plants that thrive in the heat of our environment just perform so well and more importantly fit and tie into the surrounding environment with their form and textures and colors.

This is such a great book if you love plants and gardening and appreciate them not just as individual specimens isolated and plopped into a garden bed, but the way that they grow and exist and express their personalities and unique characteristics in nature.

Especially if you live in a “unique” growing environment such as ourselves - where conditions are more difficult in which to garden in and you have a higher rate of failure when trying to grow plants - I think you’ll find this book very insightful to the point where you’ll say “Aha!” when you stumble across similar conditions that you are working with.

You can get a signed copy of New Naturalism on Kelly’s website - kellydnorris.com or anywhere Cool Springs Press books are sold. You can also check out Kelly on Instagram @kellydnorris