Wildscape (The Book)

 

This written-from-the-heart book about the wonders of backyard nature was written during the pandemic and published this year. The author’s experiences speak so much to those of us living in our gardens, places that became mini oases during those uncertain times and that continue today to amaze and uplift us as we watch nature work her magic. This is Nancy Lawson’s second book; her first is The Humane Gardener.

The book is divided into five sections, each one corresponding to the 5 senses. Her detailed accounts of areas that affect our senses bring new depth to our understandings of those with whom we share our spaces. Her personal stories and associated research show how the 5 senses of wild creatures help them to live, love, and thrive all around us.

The chapter on the Scentscape offers a number of fascinating accounts of how insects rely on scent for their food, mates, and even a new place to live. The most fascinating was about monarch leaf scratching, a behavior noticed by the author on dried boneset leaves one evening in her garden. The behavior was determined to be a deliberate extraction of pyrrolizidine alkaloids that they use to fortify their own defenses. Read more here about how she collaborated on a paper and a community science project known as Monarch Rx.  

The Soundscape chapter takes the reader through how sound is essential to wildlife, how it also affects plants, and the impact of the reduction in noise pollution during the early months of the pandemic. Most of us are aware of how noisy our neighborhoods have become with an increase in leafblowers and yard crews (my neighbor, for example, has a lawn service twice as often as I mow my lawn). This noise pollution doesn’t just affect us; birds and critters are impacted too, and sometimes they make behavioral changes that impact where they visit and drop seed, indirectly affecting where plants might thrive.

The Tastescape section reminds us how just how much our beloved plants depend on the services of wildlife to taste, enjoy, and spread the seeds of plants so that they continue to thrive and spread, including the efforts of the much-maligned ants and flies.

Solanum carolinense - prickly but beloved

Spines of all kinds affect the Touchscape – from spines that protect caterpillars to those that protect plants. I especially loved learning more about Carolina horse nettle (Solanum carolinense), a prickly native that humans love to hate. “More than thirty insect species feed on horse nettle, including specialists who rely completely on the plant or closely related species.” The author also points out that prickly plants like this help shield nearby seedlings of other – more desirable? – plants during their early growth.

For those of us who didn’t know, the author’s sister was part of the catalyst for a new law in Maryland; it was inspired by her legal battle with an HOA that tried to force her to conform to traditional landscaping. The Sightscape section covers that in some detail. Much of the section does cover how humans see the value in landscaping and how we’ve become “anesthetized to the losses” that affect the insects and birds. We need to “look again, from the eyes of a wren” to discover what is missing. The section also includes sightscape from wildlife’s point of view: how insects use sight to find nectar, how plants might favor red to encourage hummers and discourage nectar-robbing bees (who don’t see red very well), and how critters hide in plain sight to protect themselves. Nuggets of knowledge like these – sure to come up in a future talk of mine – are woven throughout this and every section.

A gray tree frog turns greenish among plants to better hide

Wildscape is a collection of everyday treasures to help us learn how to savor the special lives that live among us. It is also a collection of environmental issues large and small that help us better understand how we can help our non-human neighbors. Our journey starts in our very yards, both back and front. Let this inspiring book be one of the steps on your journey.