Although gardeners have always been drawn to the exotic, the authors of this book encourage exactly the opposite approach and eye non-native plants as encroachers. As gardeners themselves, this husband and wife team has transformed their own grounds from a traditional mixture of naturalized and native plants to one that harbors only natives to the benefit of birds, butterflies, bees and other life.  

On a cloudy day in the early spring, Austino Lewis sits at a table in a sleepy Arby's in South Fairmount before taking two busses to cover his shift as a cook at a local nursing home.