Desert Gardening
by Brookbank
from Da Capo Press
Month-By-Month Gardening in the Desert Southwest
by Mary Irish
from Cool Springs Press
Do I prune my hydrangea in the fall or do I wait until early spring?
When is it safe to put out tomatoes?
Can I divide iris now?
If you have ever asked yourself questions like these, Month-by-Month Gardening in The Desert Southwest is for you. Gardening is a journey, not a destination. The day-by-day gardening experiences - planting a few onion sets in the first warm afternoon of spring… the surprises - a purple crocus before the snow has even gone … the satisfaction - fresh green beans on the dinner table, or tomatoes, bright and red, safely in quart jars … these are the things that keep the gardener coming back year after year.
Month-by-Month Gardening in The Desert Southwest is packed with information that explains what needs to be done and when it needs to be done in the southwestern garden. Topics include:
- The most effective planting techniques.
- How and when to prune.
- The best season for fertilizing your lawn.
- The differences between bare-root, container, and balled-and-burlapped plants.
- Eleven plant categories, including Annuals, Bulbs, Herbs, Vegetables, Houseplants, Lawns, Perennials, Roses, Shrubs, and Trees.
- Twelve monthly calendars for each plant category - 132 calendars in all! - that make is easy to find the proper gardening advice.
Whatever your gardening interests or the time of year, you can take the guesswork and mystery out of gardening. You will become a more satisfied gardener … and your garden will show it!
Agaves, Yuccas, and Related Plants: A Gardener's Guide
by Gary Irish
from Timber Press, Incorporated
These exotic natives of the Americas are among the most striking of drought-tolerant plants, and they make wonderful accents in the landscape, providing excellent contrasts to flowering perennial plantings. They can also be massed effectively, and many of the species are small, ideal for use in containers.The authors point out that innovative nurseries and gardeners in cool, humid regions have shown that many of these plants may be suitable for areas with climates very different from their native range. Full information on cultivation and propagation is provided.
The authors focus on the care, cultivation, & use in the landscape of the two families to which these dramatic plants belong.
Cacti and Succulents (101 Essential Tips)
by DK Publishing
from DK ADULT
Prepare to prune and propagate to cacti perfection with this fantastic pocket-sized guide. One hundred and one nuggets of practical information take you stage-by-stage towards a broad understanding of the care of succulents and their spiky partners.
Dryland Gardening: Plants that Survive and Thrive in Tough Conditions
by Jennifer Bennett
from Firefly Books
An essential reference to gardening in hot and cold dry climates.
Gardening where summers are hot and prone to periods of drought, or where winters are snowy one week and freezing rain the next, is best managed by xeriscaping -- dryland gardening techniques that favor not only water conservation but also the conservation of time, energy and other resources.
Xeriscaping enthusiasts exist throughout North America wherever the climate calls for dryland gardening, from the Great Plains prairies to the California desert.
Dryland Gardening explains time-tested strategies:
- Coping with limited access to water
- Dealing with invasive plants
- Dealing with trees under stress
- Nurturing groundcovers and grasses
- Starting bulbs, perennials and vines
- Growing vegetables, herbs and annuals.
This book includes both practical advice for dry-climate gardeners as well as an extensive planting list for grasses and groundcovers, bulbs, perennials and vines, vegetables and annuals, herbs, roses and shrubs.
Each plant entry provides:
- Common and botanical names
- Detailed descriptions
- Planting instructions, care and maintenance.
Dryland Gardening celebrates a resilient garden with a beauty that requires fewer resources and less time.
(20060901)Plants For Dry Climates: How To Select, Grow, And Enjoy, Revised Edition
by Mary Rose Duffield
from Da Capo Press
Xeriscape Plant Guide: 100 Water-Wise Plants for Gardens and Landscapes
by Denver Water
from Fulcrum Publishing
Arizona Gardener's Guide
by Mary Irish
from Cool Springs Press
Gardening is now the favorite outdoor leisure activity in America. Homeowners realize the health benefits available from gardening and the potential increase in their home's property value.
Regional gardening titles offer the most useful advice because they provide credible information on the plants that perform best in specific states. Gardeners want information they can trust and use successfully in their own gardens.
The Arizona Gardener's Guide is a full-color plant selection resource guide written especially for Arizona gardeners. It includes the top 175 landscape plants as recommended by one of Arizona's most respected horticultural experts.
A Desert Gardener's Companion
by Kim Nelson
from Rio Nuevo Publishers
For old hands or inexperienced newcomers, A Desert Gardener's Companion is the essential reference for creating and maintaining a bountiful and environmentally sensitive Southwestern gardens. Master Gardener Kim Nelson provides a wealth of information in an easy-to-use seasonal format, covering what to do week-by-week in the desert climates of Southern California, Arizona, southern Nevada, southern New Mexico, and West Texas. Nelson covers everything from planting agave americana to mulching melons to adding zinc chelates to desert soils: one hundred sixty specific topics in all. Delightful drawings by noted nature artist Paul Mirocha demonstrate proper planting and pruning techniques, suggest complimentary landscape groupings, and illustrate specific low water-use plants. No other single volume provides as much useful advice about selecting, planting, and caring for such a wide variety of plants and gardens as Nelson packs into A Desert Gardener's Companion. Her informative and entertaining prose reflects her years of successful, hands-on gardening experience in both Southern California and Arizona and her wealth of knowledge gained as chair of the Plant Clinic at the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension in Tucson.
The Complete Illustrated Guide to Growing Cacti and Succulents: Everything you need to know about identifying, buying, siting, care and maintenance. (The Complete Illustrated Guide to)
by Miles Anderson
from Lorenz Books
Spiky, smooth, round, long or thin, cacti and succulents come in all shapes and sizes. The purpose of this book is to help you know, enjoy and care for your plants.
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