Bringing Home the Wild: A Riparian Garden in a Southwest City

Bringing Home the Wild by Juliet C. Stromberg explores how ecologically guided gardening can create a sense of place, restore connections to nature, and bring joy and meaning to our lives, featuring indigenous and biocultural heritage plants in the American Southwest.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 31 October 2023
Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Living in a large, sprawling city can often leave one feeling disconnected and adrift, with a sense of belonging and positive effects challenging to find. In her book Bringing Home the Wild, botanist Juliet C. Stromberg explores how ecologically guided gardening can help develop a sense of place, restore connections to nature, and bring joy and meaning to our lives. This book follows a two-decade journey in ecologically guided gardening on a four-acre irrigated parcel in Phoenix, Arizona, from the perspective of a retired botanist and her science historian partner. Through humor and playful use of language, Bringing Home the Wild not only introduces the plants that are feeding us, buffering the climate, and elevating our moods but also acknowledges the animals and fungi that are pollinating the plants and recycling the waste. Some of the plants featured are indigenous to the American Southwest, while others are part of the biocultural heritage of the cityscape. This book makes the case for valuing inclusive biodiversity and for respectful interactions with all wild creatures, regardless of their historical origin. As the author and her partner learn to cohabit with the plants that feed them, calm them, entertain them, and protect them from the increasing heat, their desire to live sustainably, ethically, and close to the land becomes even stronger, revealing the importance of observing, appreciating, and learning from the ecosystems of which we are a part.

Dimension: 216 x 140 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780816550272