Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife

This book is a wealth of information for not only trees, shrubs and plants, but also for birds, butterflies and wildlife. It is a great book to have on hand for reference as well.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has made this out-of-print book into a DVD that they will send to you free. Do a search and you should be able to find a Web page with this text: "The book Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife, has been made into an interactive DVD. To get your free copy..."

As various people have said, this is a great book but is handicapped by the lack of an index. I made an index, and it's on my Website (http://richter.haus.org/Wildscapes) in either Excel or PDF format, if you'd like to download it. There are 2 Excel spreadsheets: one is an index to plant families, and all the information fits on one printed page. The second is an index to individual plant species, and takes up about 8 printed pages. Each spreadsheet has 2 or 3 worksheets containing the same information sorted in different ways (for example, by common name on one worksheet, and by scientific name on another worksheet). If you don't have Excel, or would rather not deal with it, there are also PDF files that you can print out. There is one PDF for each worksheet; that is, for each different sort order of the index. Enjoy! This really is a fantastic book. - Susan

From the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department: "Those who have purchased the book can obtain a searchable index for the tables by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. If you do not have access to e-mail send a note to: Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Wildlife Diversity Program 4200 Smith School Road Austin, TX 78744

A wildscape teaches you and your family about the symbiosis of life. It's like creating a miniature world in your own yard, and it's amazing how much wildlife you can attract and enjoy. This book is full of color pictures, two of which are of my own wildscape. It describes how to provide the three basic requirements of food, cover and water. It has 239 pages of tables that tell about various wildlife species including birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and the key ingredient, wildflowers and native plants. The book describes ten ecological regions in Texas, and the tables indicate the kinds of wildlife you can expect in each region. Creating a wildscape is much easier than it appears. By using native plants, you avoid many of the problems and work of traditional gardening. I enjoy my own wildscape immensely, and I highly recommend this book and creating a one of your own.