The Natural Habitat Garden

Druse ( The Natural Shade Garden ) and Roach, the gardening editor for Newsday , survey gardens all over the United States that focus on native plants; together, they ``traveled around the country, seeking instruction not just from nature's aesthetic side, but from the actual workings of the nation's dwindling reserve of wild places.'' The result, endowed with the scrupulously detailed and decidedly deep tones of Druse's photographs, introduces--and urges--appealing ideas into American gardens. There is, for example, the prairie simplicity of Dick and Marsha Krueger's garden in Wisconsin, where a conventional lawn gave way, in part, to wildflowers. By contrast, a visit to the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, Wash., reveals ``grandeur in decay''--the abandon of spreading moss on emergent tree roots, and deer fern bulging up from shady spots. The authors also scope out desert gardens in Arizona; New England landscapes backed by familiar maples; and wildlife that tends to thrive with renewed vigor when a garden goes native again. Also included are planting advisories and practical information, such as a source guide and suggested reading list. (Apr.)