Waterwise Plants For Sustainable Gardens: 200 Drought-Tolerant Choices For All Climates Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
“I can't imagine a designer or avid gardener who wouldn't want this on their bookshelf.” —Garden Design OnlineWaterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens is a practical guide to the best 200 plants guaranteed to thrive in low-water gardens. Plant entries provide the common and botanical name, the regions where the plant is best adapted, growth and care information, and notes on pests and disease. This practical and inspiring guide includes a variety of plants, from trees to succulents, perennials to bulbs, all selected for their wide adaptability and ornamental value. Companion plants, creative design ideas, and full color photography make this guide a must-have resource for any sustainable gardener.
Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: Timber Press; First Edition edition (September 6, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1604691697
ISBN-13: 978-1604691696
Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #85,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #9 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Plants > Cacti & Succulents #15 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Climate #52 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Garden Design
With the weather changes we all experienced last growing season, gardeners and plant lovers are wondering which way to go. Wait and see? Or assume this year will be better, back to normal or terrific. I'm holding back somewhat.One of the gardening chores that never goes away is watering. What about planting more and more water-wise plants to have the same amount of beauty with a lower water bill and less work? And, if you're living in an area with water restrictions, water wise gardening will make a big difference.The 200 plants covered in the book include trees, shrubs, perennials, ground covers, grasses and sedges, bulbs and their relatives, vines, annuals, biennials, succulents, cacti, palms and fiber plants.Each plant has its own page with photo, growing preferences, attributes and best zones. In addition, the Ogdens say which other low-water plants will be good neighbors.Example of one page:Prairie Skullcap, Scutellaria resinosagrows 8-inches tall and up to a foot wideNative of the Great Plains, gray-green leaves, small purple flowers.Short lived but will self-sow.Combine with cacti, yucca, agave and others.Related perennials: Suctellaria wrightii, Violet Cloud for zones 6-9 and Suctellaria suffrutescens for zones 7-9 is longer lived, has rose red or cream flowers and is good for roof gardens.This is a handy volume to have on your desk when making your seed order this winter. I know I am going to have it in hand and use it to help make my final decisions with the catalogs in front of me.Water is a resource; so are your time and energy. Conserve them all at the same time by selecting ornamental plants for their ability to use less resources!
I wanted to review this book because; well I have a black thumb. I am not very good at keeping green things alive (except an African violet I kept alive for three years and had to give away when we moved- but that was a fluke), especially if the plant needs regular watering when it is not rainy. I always figured the perfect thing for me to plant would be something that could pretty much live on its own but plants like that are hard to find. Even at garden stores and green houses the experts always tell me, "oh it's hardy, it could survive just fine" but let me tell you a deep dark secret, I once killed two hosta plants. I know, I have been told that is next to impossible, but I went on vacation for 3 weeks and when I got home, my beautiful little garden had two dead hostas. I was sad and mortified, especially since we lived in a cul-de-sac and everyone would comment when they walked by.This book is perfect. I am eager to plant some of these drought resistant plants when we get into our new house. I am already planning my garden.This book is quite thorough. It gives a couple different tables, one is a key to the different symbols used in the book and the other is zones, broken down by temperature. It then breaks the plants into varieties, such as trees, shrub, perennials, ground cover, grasses, bulbs, succulents, palms, and fiber plants. The descriptions are easy to read and quite complete. For each plant the book lists a "grows" section that explains how tall a plant gets and how quickly it grows, best zones for it to grow in, each plants special attributes, a couple design ideas, and a related plant in the same genre.Waterwise also has really beautiful pictures of the plants, and in most cases there is more than one picture of the plant and if the plant looks different during different seasons, like some trees, there are pictures of both seasonal looks. The wording is colorful, eye catching, and an easy to read font. It is also a pretty large font, which is nice on the eyes.I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what types of plants to plant in areas where you get occasional droughts. I know this book has been quite helpful to me, and I am a total novice. If you have any experience, this book will be a great resource for you to add to your collection.I received this book as an ARC. I do not get paid to review books; I do so in order to assist you in recognizing books that you might enjoy.Please read more of my reviews on my blog: sarahereads(dot)wordpress(dot)com
1 small format page per plant with picture of almost half the page, zone, plant height and breadth, uninspired design ideas, usually related plants. In a book with plant in the title did not expect so many trees. The varieties named for my zone largely unavailable in local nurseries, so was not much use. Good effort though.
Water supplies and drought are increasingly serious issues across large sections of the country and especially here in Texas. As noted in the introduction, the 200 plants in this book are plants that can survive and thrive on one inch of water every two weeks during their peak growing times. Obviously, brand new plants will need more water to get going and during cooler weather these established plants will need much less.As noted in the subtitle these are 200 plants that can work anywhere. Broken down into 11 chapters that cover trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, ground covers, and more here is a huge variety here in plant materials and appearances. There is certain to be several selections that will fit your particular situation. Each chapter features numerous specimens in large colorful pictures with their Latin names, explanation of shade and light needs, how fast or slow the plants grow, zone recommendations, and detailed notes on each plant. In each case there are also design idea recommendations and a listing of related plants to the one being covered.A seven page index pulls the 249 page book together. Each section of plant types is color coded for ease of use. Another nice touch is the use of numerous symbols with each plant making it clear in a glance what you are looking for. Colorful and well done, "Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens: 200 Drought Tolerant Choices for All Climates" serves not only as a handy reference guide but a beautiful book to inspire you to transform your landscape into a sustainable one that will be an envy of all and environmentally aware.Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.Kevin R. Tipple ©2012
Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens: 200 Drought-Tolerant Choices for all Climates Planting Designs for Cactus & Succulents: Indoor and Outdoor Projects for Unique, Easy-Care Plants--in All Climates Plants For Water Gardens: The Complete Guide To Aquatic Plants Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought Dependable Computing for Critical Applications 5 (Dependable Computing and Fault-Tolerant Systems) Designing for Scalability with Erlang/OTP: Implement Robust, Fault-Tolerant Systems Builder's Guide to Cold Climates: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best Cold-Climate Building Techniques Cacti and Succulents for Cold Climates: 274 Outstanding Species for Challenging Conditions Health Smarts: How to Eat Right, Stay Fit, Make Positive Choices, and More (USA Today Teen Wise Guides: Lifestyle Choices) Re-engineering for Sustainable Industrial Production: Proceedings of the OE/IFIP/IEEE International Conference on Integrated and Sustainable ... in Information and Communication Technology) Air Plants: All you need to know about Air Plants in a single book! Garden Calendar - English Gardens Calendar - Calendars 2016 - 2017 Wall Calendars - Flower Calendar - English Gardens 16 Month Wall Calendar by Avonside Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cook Book (Better Homes and Gardens Cooking) Halloween Tricks & Treats (Better Homes and Gardens) (Better Homes and Gardens Cooking) Better Homes and Gardens Salads (Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen) The Porch Book (Better Homes and Gardens) (Better Homes and Gardens Home) Better Homes and Gardens Kitchen and Bath Renovation Guide (Better Homes and Gardens Home) Better Homes and Gardens Baking: More than 350 Recipes Plus Tips and Techniques (Better Homes and Gardens Cooking) Big Book of Home How-To P (Better Homes and Gardens) (Better Homes and Gardens Home) Do It Yourself: 100+ Paint Projects (Better Homes and Gardens) (Better Homes and Gardens Home)
