Native plants have earned a new status in the garden as people have come to appreciate how easy they are to grow and how good they are for the environment.

Charlotte Adelman and Bernard L. Schwartz make it easier to incorporate native plants in the landscape with their new book, "The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives to Nonnative Flowers and Plants" (Ohio University Press, $26.95).

Organized by season, the book names common nonnative plants and suggests native alternatives that resemble those plants in height, ornamental features and cultivation requirements.