Book Description
Whether explosive displays of columnar cacti and brilliant wildflowers cascading down sun-bathed hillsides, meditative, botanical expressions of an organic, spine-laden geometry set within the quiet, earthen walls of a Spanish colonial mission, or twilit, verdant groves evoking a prelapsarian topographythis book captures the numinous light and beauty of 18 unique and rarely photographed private and public desert gardens between San Francisco and San Diego. Featuring the most important desert garden in the world at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, as well as the Moorten Botanical Gardens in Palm Springs, Balboa Park in San Diego, and many exquisite private gardens, the volume celebrates the sculpturesque charms of cacti, aloes, and other succulent flora that have adapted to the extreme conditions of the desert.
Combining spectacular garden views in idyllic settings and ravishingly beautiful images of particular specimens, with text by the renowned desert garden expert Gary Lyons that balances the poetics and technical aspects of this garden genre, the book serves as an inspirational guide to these horticultural treasures. Because interest in desert gardens continues to grow dramatically, the book also includes the addresses and visiting hours of gardens open to the public, and provides a bibliography of what one needs to know in order to create one's own.
Customer Reviews:
4.7 stars -- recommended for all garden-book fans........2007-01-01
This fine large-format book covers public and private gardens in (mostly) coastal Southern California. Unusually for a coffee-table book, the text is more interesting than the photos. The photographs are quite nice, though the color-reproduction could be better. Author Lyons, formerly curator of the fabulous Huntington Desert Garden, is a marvelously knowledgeable, opinionated and entertaining writer. We learn that old Mr. Huntington didn't like cacti at all, due to some unfortunate prickly-pear encounters in railroad construction work -- but, once won over, he built a railway spur to his garden, to bring in rock, soil and plants by the carload.....
When asked about cacti, an old Mojave prospector told Lyons "I know every one of 'em. There's the 'Full of Stickers,' 'Stick and Stay In,' 'Stick 'em Alive,' 'Stick 'em Dead,' 'Stick and Fester,' 'Rattlesnake Fang'..." "I could probably add to the list," notes Lyons.
Lyons relates the story of a cactus garden he planted for the Los Angeles Zoo, next to Sampson the elephant's cage: "He never missed an opportunity to hit a moving target (and was a good shot) with chunks of flying feces... An unforgettable experience."
A very entertaining book, recommended for all garden-book fans.
Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman
Very Inspirational.......2006-02-03
I absolutely love this book. I have spent many, many hours examining the photos and I've probably read the text a couple of times. I have developed a beautiful desert garden in Southern Baja California, Mexico and I credit this book as a major source of inspiration. I looked at the beautiful photos so much that I started thinking like a photographer and got busy with my digital camera and have created some images inspired by nature that I am proud of. I highly recommend this book. See Diane's Baja Desert Garden Blog: http://cabopulmo.blogspot.com/ for a peek at my garden.
Doesn't live up to its promise.......2002-02-09
This book was a disappointment. The text is uninspiring and the photos do not convey the gardens they supposedly portrait. The quality of the photos is very good, but most of them show small sections of the gardens or even just a few plants. Moreover, often the plants shown are rather common.
We were hoping to see photos that give an overview of each garden so one gets a feeling for the organization of space, layering of plants, depth, etc. None of that. Just pretty pictures. A few close-up of specimens is great as a complement, but not as the only photos.
We know two of the gardens rather well and feel that the photos just don't even come close to conveying any of these gardens' interests. Too bad, should have saved the money for a better book...
In defense of prickles..........2001-02-10
As the owner of one of the gardens featured in the book, I confess to a slight bias in loving this book - but I have to say with as much objectivity as I can muster that Ms. Levick and Mr. Lyons have done a superb job. Levick's photographs, in particular, are magnificent; she made my garden look better than I ever thought it could.
The review by "reader from Encinitas" complains that the title of the book should have included "of Southern California;" in defense of Lyons and Levick, that WAS originally part of the title. It was the publisher's decision to remove that portion of that important qualifier, in the hopes of giving the book wider appeal.
I would also suggest to the reader from Encinitas (whom I suspect I know) that she open her mind to including more of these dramatic, sculptural plants to her garden, prickles or no. The plants are not dangerous if handled with a modicum of caution, and as this book brilliantly illustrates, their contribution to a garden can't be matched by any canna or banana.
Desert Gardens [Southern California Style].......2000-07-15
My husband has a decided dislike of any plants in the "out to get you" category, and since I share his loathing of thorns we have neither cacti nor roses in our garden. That being said, if you think "desert garden" means little more than prickles and sand let me assure you that this beautifully-illustrated book will change your mind.
As Melba Levick's stunning photos so clearly show, gardens composed primarily of low-water plants can be beautiful and, more perhaps importantly, can be touchable as well. Although great care needs to be taken with many of the cacti (especially those species with barbed spines), there are supple succulents with no dangerous protrusions, and other user-friendly plants combine to great advantage in the 18 gardens shown.
Occupying a relatively narrow area of coastal Southern California (with just a few exceptions), these private and public gardens showcase the passions of their owners. I've visited a number of them and find the descriptions of those to be both accurate and evocative, with their successes and shortcomings (in the author's view) both pointed out. Author Gary Lyons shares with these gardeners a love of things spiny and weirdly twisted (his own garden is one of the 18 featured), and he makes clear his belief (which I share) that plants should be allowed to grow in a setting which suits them best and not primarily used in an overly-controlled manner (as in the new Getty Museum gardens).
I especially liked reading about the gardeners and how they came to develop their passions for these particular plants, and it would have been especially nice if a small photo of each gardener was included. One minor quibble I have is that the book should have been subtitled "of Southern California," as I was disappointed to find that it had a rather limited geographic scope. On the plus side, it has made me want to re-visit The Huntington Gardens and spend more time checking out the desert section rather than heading straight for the sub-tropical jungle areas. And I was inspired by it to acquire a few aloes this week to tuck into my Mediterranean front yard, and a couple more succulents for the drought-tolerant section, too.
Book Description
Drawing upon her vast knowledge of perennials and how they perform in the arid Southwest, Mary Irish has produced the definitive guide for gardeners who want to create lush, colorful gardens while keeping artificial irrigation to a minimum. This book will help Southwest gardeners meet the challenge of growing perennials successfully by providing inspired, practical information on how to design dry-climate gardens and an A–Z guide to 156 proven plants. Each entry includes the plant's scientific and common names, distribution, cultural needs, drought tolerance, and ornamental characteristics. Written in a clear, reader-friendly style and profusely illustrated with sparkling color photographs, this invaluable volume makes Irish's expertise available to every gardener.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Guide to Perennials!.......2007-09-28
Another winning book by author Mary Irish! I have several of her books, and the style and information within is wonderful. The first part of the book includes designing your landscape, as well as garden prep, the care of perennials and disease/pests. Much of the information relates to plant care in general, so it's a great benefit for any gardener. Add to that the pages upon pages of recommended perennials, with color photos, and it makes for a great reference book for the arid gardener.
Whoa, give this book a chance!!!.......2007-06-05
I feel this book deserves a much higher score for the information it contains about this under-represented area of gardening. I hate to see a book trashed for odd reasons and would like to elaborate on why I value this book.
One reader has a problem with the fact that this book is not for the Four-Corners area. As one who lives in sizzling Phoenix, I can relate to the disappointment of not having books relate to my area. (So few books relate to Phoenix that it's fantastic to find a good one that does.) The description of the book in Amazon and on the cover of the book may not have adequately given away it's low-desert content, but that doesn't make it a bad book. If the book had been flipped through at a book store, the buyer would have known whether the book met their needs. Buying on Amazon is a short-cut. The fact that we are giving up our ability to peruse every page is the down side to the ease of purchase and lower prices we pay.
Another reader didn't like the fact that everyone in their neighborhood had a copy of this book. Sounds like whoever recommended it was being very responsible in urging water conservation and in steering homeowners toward plants that won't die the first season they are planted. The fact that Phoenix nurseries sell plants that won't live here without excessive babying leads many people down the wrong path. Crispy plants are a disappointing phenomenon that plagues gardeners without sufficient knowledge of the locale.
Of all the arguments, the one about the photos being too small is the only one that actually pertains to this book. Yes, the pictures are small. But the book is so good that I'm happy to do a "G00gle Images" search to see what MANY photos of a plant look like before deciding if I want it. To me, detailed information about each plant is of more value than expensive, space-consuming photos. I am a veteran in the publishing business and if the book containing this many plants accompanied by large photos, the expense of the book would be phenomenal.
Buyers, give this book a chance -- and remember G00gle Images for an array of photos that will provide greater knowledge of any plant from ANY book.
A MISTITLED book.......2007-03-30
Ordered this book and was all excited waiting for it to come; figured it was right up my alley.
When it arrived and I looked inside I knew when I saw the map that it was about area like Yuma, Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso. The HOT areas of the Southwest. Well, there's a lot of the Southwest that is high and cold and this book is for the low, hot areas. If you live within site of the Colorado mountains as I do in the Four Corners, this book will be of no use at all. Too bad I was given no hint about that and now have to deal with the hassle of a return and pay for it too!
Should have called it something like "Low Desert Gardening" or something...
Great info, HORRIBLE photos.......2006-05-24
I own several Mary Irish books and find them immensely useful for those of us who garden in the desert southwest. Since I wanted to brighten up my yard with some perennials, I figured this would be a perfect addition to my library. The information about each plant is great, but the photos are often useless - they are so small that it's often impossible to see what the plant looks like, and some are taken from such a distance that even the form is not evident. The perfect book would have a long view of the plant form, with a closeup of the bloom/foilage.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful, oh, and useful too.......2005-01-16
This is one of my favorite resources for adding plants to my garden in Albuquerque. While I have other plant guides that are better simply because they are more specific to my region, none match this one for beauty. This book is clearly a labor of love from a group of people who are hoping to advance xeric gardening in the Denver area. The information extends pretty well to planting zones 4-7, especially for dry, high altitude climates.
The number of plants listed is a little low compared to other guides that I use, but the coverage of each plant is excellent - one or two full pages of text and pictures. The two-page entries generally include several pictures, including pictures from different seasons. There is also a color drawing of each plant, which makes it easier to see significant details and is helpful with identification. The text is also useful and well organized, but it is the pictures that I spend the most time browsing through.
Excellent guide for all rocky mountain region .......2004-10-24
I live in Colorado, 11 miles north of New Mexico. This book has been a wonderful resource for my xeric gardening. Each plant/tree/vine is decribed by: landscape use, form, native range, characteristics, culture (soil type, etc.), best features, companion plants, disadvantages, and related species. There are pictures of each plant in all 4 seasons.
I take this book with me to plant nurseries and find that people are coming over to look at it and read about their possible purchases.
I agree this is not a resource for the desert southwest but it is excellent for those living in the area from Denver to the middle of New Mexico who wish to learn about water-wise planting.
Xeriscape is not Zeroscape!.......2000-12-22
One myth about xeric design is that it requires the use of only cactus and rock. Not true! In fact, there are seven xeric concepts and these concepts can be applied in any landscape. They are;
1. Pland and design for water conservation from the start. 2. Create practical turf areas. 3. Use plants that are appropriate for your area. 4. Consider adding soil improvements such as compost, manure, etc. 5. Use mulches where possible, such as wood chips, rock, etc. 6. Irrigate efficiently. 7. Plan for an appropriate maintenance system for your landscape.
The Xeriscape Plant guide provides a lot of good information on low-water use plants for dry areas, which are not only found in the Sonoran Desert but in many other places in the west as well. The book provide details on companion plants, advantages and disadvantages of specific plants and even offers photos of specific plants in different seasons. It is part of a 3-book series,and all three are worth having if you are interested in specific information on low water plants, designing a xeric garden and providing the right kind of care.
Desert Dweller comments.........2000-09-26
This book rates a 5 star rating in regions other than the Desert. Xeriscape normally would indicate Desert plantings, however, this book is for the Denver, Rocky mtn. area. It is of little assistance to Desert Dwellers desire to landscape, however, it will be a nice addition to my plant library. As a Desert Dweller I give it a 1 star rating.
Altitude information!.......2000-07-15
Beautiful illustrations of all the seasons and altitude information made this book very useful to me. I could choose those few plants that I can find to grow at my altitude and know how they would look in conjunction with the already established plants in all the seasons. Need a fall color there? You can find it! All in all very helpful.
Book Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
A real problem-solver for any seeking to produce a beautiful garden under today's drier conditions.......2005-08-06
As the planetary weather patterns and overall environment warms, so garden plants which typically did well in prior decades are now suffering from hotter summers, requiring even the most experienced gardener to try new plants which have a greater range of tolerance to warmer conditions. Gardening writer Jennifer Bennett has already produced several award-winning titles, but Dryland Gardening: Plants That Survive And Thrive In Tough Conditions is broader-based than most, and provides alternative plant choices for all kinds of dry conditions. Organized by type of plant: bulbs, grasses, groundcovers and vines, and even herbs, Dryland Gardening is a real problem-solver for any seeking to produce a beautiful garden under today's drier conditions.
Book Description
Fully illustrated and comprehensive guide to planning and planting a garden in the low deserts of Arizona
Customer Reviews:
Excellent, thorough guide, but flip pages are hard to deal with.......2007-05-10
Everything you need to know to successfully grow desert flowers, with hundreds featured. Maybe it's me, but the small, separated flip pages featuring each flower are really hard to maneuver. I've yet to figure out why this page style was chosen. Has beautiful illustrations. A must-have book for any Arizona low desert gardener.
Average customer rating:
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Northern Chihuahuan Desert Wildflowers
Steve West
Manufacturer: Falcon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Garden Design
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Cacti & Succulents
| Plants
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Flowers
| Plants
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| West
| Regions
| United States
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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Sonoran Desert Wildflowers: A Field Guide to the Common Wildflowers of the Sonoran Desert, Including Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Saguaro National Park, Organ Pipe National Monument, Ironwood Forest National Monument, and the Sonoran Portion of Joshua Tree National Park
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Cacti of the Desert Southwest
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Shrubs & Trees of the Southwest Deserts
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Mojave Desert Wildflowers: A Field Guide to Wildflowers, Trees, and Shrubs of the Mojave Desert, Including the Mojave National Preserve, Death Valley National Park, and Joshua Tree National Park
ASIN: 1560449802 |
Book Description
Field guide to more than 260 wildflowers conveniently arranged for easy identification. Includes vibrant color photos and descriptions.
Customer Reviews:
from a new mexico gardener..........2001-10-29
Of the many books I've read on southwest gardening, this was the most rewarding. I learned so much about native and adaptive plants that are suited to our climate and growing conditions here in the southwest. Also about the different "microclimates" that determine proper location of particular plants in the garden so they will thrive. After applying the valuable information from this book to my own gardening efforts I see miraculous results! This book is a MUST for New Mexico gardeners interested in beautiful, water conservative plants.
Average customer rating:
- so practical, and such a delight to read
- YES YOU CAN GROW ROSES IN THE DESERT
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Roses in a Desert Garden
Hallie Beck
Manufacturer: Phoenix Home & Garden, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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Arizona Gardener's Guide
ASIN: 0962596116 |
Customer Reviews:
so practical, and such a delight to read.......2007-08-03
I live in an arid climate and while most rose books don't give you a clue about what soils/temperatures specific roses need, Beck goes into detail and even recommends (thank you Hallie!!) specific roses for specific desert situations. She tells how to amend the soil, which roses change color in the heat, and even how to combine rose colors. I've checked this book out SO many times from the library--but it's not enough. I need it at hand, for her knowledge, suggestions and humor.
YES YOU CAN GROW ROSES IN THE DESERT.......2000-09-26
Great book that focuses on the needs and advantages of growing roses in the Southwest. Unlike most rose books, which focus on growing roses in more temperate climates, this book addresses the unique requirements and opportunities of growing roses in the desert. I particularly liked the references the author made to specific roses (i.e. Gene Boerner, Abraham Darby, etc.) that do well in more arid climates. This book cuts through the rhetoric of the thicker "prettier" rose books and gives the desert gardner the growing know-how they need to create a paradise in the desert!
Books:
- Designing with Succulents
- Elementary, My Dear Watkins (Smart Chick Mysteries, Book 3)
- Every Year on Your Birthday
- Feels Like Family (Sweet Magnolias)
- Feng Shui For Gardeners: Complete Illustrated Guide
- Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers
- Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community
- Gentle Willow: A Story for Children About Dying
- Genus Hosta
- Golden Men: The Power of Gay Midlife
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