Avonlea Gardens Nursery opens for the 2024 season on Tuesday, April 2. The Inn is open year round.
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Native Plant Books and Websites

Here is a list of books that I have enjoyed reading and think that you may enjoy as well. Let me know your favs!
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    A New Garden Ethic (Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future) by Benjamin Vogt
  • Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Second Edition: A Natural Approach to Pest Control by Jessica Walliser
  • Bringing Nature Home (How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants) by Doug Tallamy
  • Garden Revolution (How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change) by Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher
  • Good Garden Bugs (Everything You Need to Know About Beneficial Predatory Insects) by Mary M. Gardiner, Ph.D.
  • Planting in A Post-Wild World (Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes) by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West
  • Pollinators of Native Plants (Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants) by Heather Holm
  • Shanleya’s Quest (A Botany Adventure for Kids Ages 9-99) and Shanleya’s Quest 2 (Botany Adventure at the Fallen Tree) by Thomas J. Elpel
  • The American Horticultural Society Pruning & Training (The Definitive Guide to Pruning Trees, Shrubs, and Climbers) by Christopher Brickell and David Joyce
  • The Bees in Your Backyard (A Guide to North America’s Bees) by Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril
  • The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature by Sue Stuart-Smith
  • The Well-Tended Perennial Garden (The Essential Guide to Planting and Pruning Techniques) by Tracy DiSabato-Aust
And here are a few websites with excellent information that I reference often. You may find them helpful!
  • For plant information and cultural care on natives, cultivars and non-natives, please visit the Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plantfinder/plantfindersearch.aspx
  • For information on native plants, including information provided by the Pollinator Program at The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, please visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/
  • To determine plant nativity, the USDA PLANTS database: https://plants.usda.gov/home
  • To determine plant nativity, The Biota of North America Program: http://www.bonap.org/
  • Doug Tallamy’s Homegrown National Park, “a grassroots call-to-action to regenerate biodiversity and ecosystem function by planting native plants and creating new ecological networks:” https://homegrownnationalpark.org/ Add your native plantings to the map. I did! And ooh – now I get to add Avonlea to the map as well!
  • To learn how many butterfly and moth species a native plant can attract, please visit the website created by the National Wildlife Federation in partnership with and based on the scientific research of Dr. Douglas Tallamy and Research Assistant Kimberley Shropshire, the Native Plant Finder: https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/
  • The Ohio State University Phenological calendar: https://weather.cfaes.osu.edu/gdd/
  • BYGL – The Ohio State University Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine – providing timely information about Ohio growing conditions, pest, disease and cultural problems. https://bygl.osu.edu/index.php/
  • Heather Holm is a biologist, pollinator conservationist and award-winning author. Her website has an amazing amount of information on native plants and the beneficial insects they support: https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com/plant-lists–posters.html
  • Denise Ellsworth of The Ohio State University has created a website titled “The Bee Lab” – tons of fascinating information including webinar recordings, articles, fact sheets and ID cards: https://u.osu.edu/beelab/resources/

Avonlea Gardens Native Plants Nursery

BarnWe are a family-owned nursery and inn in charming Chardon, Ohio.

Specializing in native plants and nativars, our nursery also offers exquisite garden accessories in a historic barn.

Avonlea Inn

the-Inn-in-summerFor a cozy stay, book the Rose or Bluebell Suite in our vintage-style century home Inn – or the whole house.

Located at 12511 Fowlers Mill Rd, Chardon, OH 44024, contact us at  (440) 622-7225 for your gardening and lodging needs. We can’t wait to host you!