We Are the ARK

August 1, 2022
In this impassioned plea to restore native ecosystems, landscape designer Reynolds (The Garden Awakening) sets out to recruit green “warriors” to build ARKs, or “Acts of Restorative Kindness,” on their land. Reynolds sees monocultural lawns as “a symbol of disconnection from and suppression of our wild nature,” and suggests that many of the best-intentioned gardens are actually “green deserts” filled with nonnative plants that “monopolize the attention of pollinators” and “sever the food web.” Those looking to turn their gardens into ARKs should overcome “the shame of having a messy garden”; abstain from using fungicides, pesticides, and herbicides; cut back on concrete usage in lanscaping so as to “let the earth breathe as much as possible”; and plant native flora. Reynolds emphasizes the importance of having a variety of plants (seeds, trees, and weeds all play a role in a healthy ecosystem), and fostering “different layers of ecosystem maturity” (including short grass, long grass, and scrubs). New gardeners might have a hard time getting on board with ideas such as ditching all nonnative plants, but for those passionate about having their backyards be “part of the solution,” Reynolds’s message will ring loud and clear. Gardeners intrigued by rewilding practices will find this worth a look.

August 1, 2022

In this non-gardening garden book, Irish author Reynolds (The Garden Awakening) advocates for returning cultivated spaces to nature. She wants people to become guardians rather than gardeners in her global movement to restore habitat to what it once was and should still be. She launched ARK, which stands for acts of restorative kindness, and it is a loose, international organization that preaches the gospel of restoring the Earth one small patch at a time. Evans's gloriously fanciful illustrations are a major part of the text, serving to inspire all to "rewild" their manicured plots, no matter the size. Removing non-native plants, eliminating all chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and making space and providing water for the creatures that used to abound is merely the start. While this seems most appropriate for rural spaces rather than urban or suburban gardens, there are suggestions for plots as small as window boxes. The persuasive text is followed by an appendix that gives step-by-step plans, extensive references, and a bibliography. VERDICT This may not be the handbook that many gardeners crave, but it is inspirational for all.--Danise Hoover

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2022
Irish gardening activist Reynolds, who in her twenties took gold at the 2002 Chelsea Flower Show (recounted in the biopic Dare to Be Wild), dares to advocate "Acts of Restorative Kindness," or ARKs--interconnecting often-modest patches of biodiversity--in a world where monocultural farming, deforestation, pesticide abuse, and the widespread introduction of nonnative plants, among other worst practices, threaten to upend Earth's delicate ecosystem. Native-plant gardening has many boosters, but Reynolds and illustrator Ruth Evans package their advocacy in an especially coherent, homeowner-friendly way, deftly outlining the problem, suggesting what barriers to alter or remove (hardscape, nonnative plants, pets) in prepping a garden, and recommending home habitats that offer the most biodiversity, especially in bolstering all-important insect populations. Certainly there will be better books on the subject to follow, but this is a serviceable introduction for the home gardener.

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