This is a good beginner guide to planting to attract birds and butterflies, though it could use a lot more information on attracting other wildlife. Stock photos are used throughout. If you are new to realizing that your garden should be part of a healthy ecosystem, this will get you started. There are better resources to help you do it better, but this should do a good job of lighting a spark.

If you're looking to bring more native critters to your garden this book contains a great amount of advice on the subject. Good reference.

Former editor of Birds and Blooms magazine, author Stacy Tornio does a marvelous job introducing beginners and avid gardeners alike to plant life for attracting birds, bees, and butterflies. I love the book! Full-color photos are presented in easy to follow sections for the wildlife being discussed. Helpful details on plant management are included. I imagine this book as a springboard to family activities in the garden!

The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden was a very informative glimpse into how to naturally attract & support a variety of birds, bees and other wildlife.

Separated into sections to attract:
Birds
Butterflies
Other wildlife
Hummingbirds
Bees
How to plan a garden
FAQs

Each section lists:
types, how to identify, size, markings, sounds, habitat, nesting, diet, range (location & time of year) & tips on other things to look for.

Plant recommendations
Type, hardiness, size, flower color, soil, light needs, what it attracts as well as tips

Great resource for starting a garden for wildlife. I will be purchasing a copy.

Thank you Timber Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley.

The author’s book includes great information for beginning gardeners.. She discusses several different gardens. I appreciated the drought resistant and low-maintenance plants when describing the gardens. I found it interesting to see the descriptions of the bees besides the birds. Butterflies are discussed in what plants are attracted to them. It’s a book that has gorgeous pictures. I found myself completely enchanted with what I could do for a garden.

The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden is a tutorial, information, and gardening guide rolled into one by Stacy Tornio. Due out 6th Feb 2024 from Hachette on their Timber Press imprint, it's 228 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a really well written beginner friendly guide which contains concrete practical steps to help protect and enhance habitat for wildlife. The introductory chapters contain a good layman-accessible explanation of the goals and features of an attractive habitat for different species as well as a good guide to designing, improving, and expanding a wildlife-friendly habitat.

The book is set up in sections with special emphasis on what creatures readers especially want to encourage: birds, butterflies, other wildlife, hummingbirds, and other wildlife. Each chapter contains specific concrete advice for making an inviting and safe area for wildlife. The author writes well and clearly about the different subjects: shelter, food, nectar, nesting areas, and more.

There are also some good ancillary appendices including how to plan a garden, FAQs about soil, troubleshooting, species selection, encouraging native plants to support native wildlife, and more.

Five stars. This would be a superlative selection for public or school library acquisition, home use, activity groups, gardening and allotment groups, scouting activities, and more.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This was a really good book. It was well-written, nicely organized, and full of quality information. There are nice images of every plant and lots of wildlife images.

The book is separated by types of wildlife. There is a section for birds, butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and other wildlife. I appreciate this organization; it makes things easy to find.

I also really liked the section with garden plans. The companion planting selections are well thought out. I would like to use one or more of these planned gardens in my backyard.

I have read several books on gardening for wildlife in the last year. This one is more thorough than most, which makes me feel like it is a more helpful reference than some of the others I have seen recently.

I almost knocked this down from 5 stars to 4 stars because I would have liked to see some additional info to identify specific wildlife partners for each plant. For example, it mentions that Northern Cardinals like berries and fruit, which is nice but it doesn't tell me what type of fruit tree or berry bush attracts cardinals specifically. It would have been helpful to see extra detail, such as: cardinals are attracted to dark berries like blueberries and mulberries. But that type of detail would have been really above and beyond because the book does cover a lot of stuff.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who wants to make their yard more friendly to wildlife.

Stunning pictures!!! I loved how organized the sections were set up. It was so informative about the wildlife to attract to your garden and the flowers that will do it. I can't wait to incorporate some of these flowers and plants into my flower garden.

As an amateur gardener just getting into attracting birds and bees into my yard, and hoping to move toward native plants, I LOVE how this book is organized based on what you want to attract to your garden. Each section has general tips as well as details about birds, bees, and plants with lots of helpful tips - but not so much it gets overwhelming. I really appreciate the clear, colorful pictures throughout the book. This will truly be an excellent reference for any garden, no matter what size or growing zone.

I received an ARC for this on NetGalley.

I'm always fascinated by books that explains how to create a garden full of wildlife. Beautiful pictures, instructions easy to follow.
A well done and very beautiful book.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

What an amazing resource for those looking to attract more wildlife to their gardens. Not only is it informative and practical, the book is laid out beautifully and is a quick and pleasant read.

I found this book to be both extremely useful in the information presented, and also visually satisfying to flip through. The organization makes it easy to find specific information you may be looking for. The photography and the layout really enhance the content. I love the emphasis on native plants and creating gardens that are mutually beneficial for humans and the wildlife around us. I especially loved the “Show Me How to Plan a Garden” section in the back with sample garden plans that lay it all out for you based on what kind of habitat you are trying to create. You won’t be left feeling lost with what to do with the information in the book, because it is all presented in a practical way that allows you to put knowledge into practice. I will add that I am not an expert on this topic, so I can’t verify any of the advice it gives, but I am looking forward to using what I’ve learned in my garden this upcoming year!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. An excellent resource for any gardener who wants to attract birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife to their garden. Excellent instruction and great picture examples.

This book has beautiful photographs on every page. I am wanting to make my garden more appealing to butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds and this books tells me what plants appeal to encourage those creatures to inhabit my garden and stay. Some of these I have in my yard already so it was affirming that I was doing the right thing.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a digital copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

This book may actually get me motivated to work in my back yard. It is full of great information and is perfectly organized into various species you may want to attract and the appropriate plants to accomplish the task.

I absolutely love this book. The photos are stunning and helpful for identifying the various plants, flowers, and wildlife. The book is well organized and easy to navigate with multiple garden plans and wildlife focus. This makes it easy to build your garden to attract the wildlife of choice. The chapters cover general information, common backyard species, and plant recommendations. I also loved the Garden Plans and FAQ sections which were full of information and tips.

This is the perfect resource for someone who is trying to create an environment that attracts specific wildlife and/or learn more about the wildlife and plants that have already taken residence in their yard and garden.

The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden is a great beginning book for determining how to plan a garden in order to attract different types of wildlife. The book is broken down into the type of wildlife you might want to attract (birds, butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, and other). The images used are high quality. I love how the author includes growing zone for plants and location for animals. I have quite a list of plants I want to plant next year! The only drawback is the limited information on attracting other animals.

Ever have an occasion where you stumble upon exactly the right book at exactly the right time? That was the case when I discovered The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden: Attract and Support Birds, Bees, and Butterflies by Stacy Tornio. I’d been wanting to repurpose part of our large yard into a garden that would benefit my local wildlife and plants and also bring me joy, but I was overwhelmed by how to go about it. Torino’s book provided clarity and is making the time spent planning my wildlife habitat garden a pure joy!

The book is organized into sections according to whether you want to attract birds in general, hummingbirds specifically, bees, butterflies, or other wildlife. Each section shares a variety of species followed by plants that will meet the needs of the wildlife in that section. Once you have decided which creatures you want to welcome, Tornio uses illustrations to show how to plan your garden, providing reference to plants that have been described earlier in the book that would be a perfect inclusion in your garden (ex. low maintenance garden, native garden, birdseed garden, bird habitat garden, etc). The book finishes with a helpful FAQ section.

The simplicity of the organization of this book, coupled with the gorgeous photographs of the wildlife species and plants make it exactly what I needed to take an idea of wanting to make better use of our property and turning that idea into reality. I will definitely be purchasing a hard copy of this book. What a treasure!

Thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was great! It gave me fantastic ideas for planning out my 2024 wildflower garden and I really liked the illustrations of the different garden plans based on what types of critters you want to attract.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)

Well organized and full of information. I liked that it was broken up into sections for what you're trying to attract along with the best plants to succeed with.