Desert Landscaping


Book Description

Provides information on how to start and maintain a desert landscape, addressing concerns such as irrigation, planting wildflowers, and palm tree care; and features an almanac that offers month-by-month maintenance tips.




Desert Landscaping for Beginners


Book Description

Tips and techniques for gardening success in arid climates with a chapter on growing wildflowers.




Native Plants for Southwestern Landscapes


Book Description

Offers the most comprehensive guide to landscaping with native plants available.




The Hot Garden


Book Description

An inspiring and witty guide to landscape design in dry climates.




Desert Landscape School


Book Description

Plant/ Educate/ SustainFor decades, the Desert Botanical Garden has responded to our community's needs for knowledge about our desert habitat and resources for living responsibly in it. Over the years, the Garden has become nationally recognized as a champion of plant conservation, a pioneer of the care and display of desert plants, a respected leader in Sonoran Desert research, and an innovator in lifelong education.Supporting the Garden's mission to advance excellence in education, research, exhibition, and conservation of desert plants of the world with emphasis on the southwestern United States is the goal of the Desert Landscape School. We accomplish this by promoting environmental sustainability through demonstrating and teaching best practices in desert plant horticulture; providing education programs with emphasis on science literacy; and exploring and sharing the myriad relationships among plants, people, nature, and the arts.The School offers an exceptional opportunity for professional development and this Guide can be used as a self-directed learning tool for those wishing to learn how to create beautiful, livable, and sustainable outdoor spaces in a desert environment.




Desert Landscaping


Book Description

George Brookbank has distilled nearly twenty years' experience—as an extension agent in urban horticulture with the University of Arizona—into a practical book that tells how to avoid problems with desert landscaping before they occur and how to correct those that do. In the first part, "How to Start and Maintain a Desert Landscape," he provides 28 easy-to-use chapters that address concerns ranging from how to start a wildflower garden to how to cope with Texas root rot. In Part Two, "A Month-By-Month Maintenance Guide," he offers a handy almanac that tells what to do and what to watch out for each month of the year, with cross-references to the chapters in Part One. Homeowners who maintain their own landscape will find in this book ways to make the work more satisfying and productive, while those who hire landscape contractors can make sure the work is done effectively and economically. "You'll find all kinds of books on desert landscape design and materials, irrigation system and design, and landscape installation," says Brookbank. "So far as I know, however, this is the only book that tells you what to do with what you've got and how to keep it growing." CONTENTS Part 1 - How to Start and Maintain a Desert Landscape 1. Desert Conditions: How They Are "Different" 2. Plants Are Like People: They're Not Alike 3. Use Arid-Land Plants to Save Water 4. How to Irrigate in the Desert 5. How to Design and Install a Drip Irrigation System 6. Soils and Their Improvement I: How to Plant in the Desert 7. Soils and Their Improvement II: How to Use Fertilizers 8. What to Do When Things Go Wrong: A Troubleshooter's Guide 9. How to Avoid—and Repair—Frost Damage 10. How to Control "Weeds" 11. Palo Verde Borer Beetle: What to Do 12. How to Avoid Texas Root Rot 13. When You Move Into an Empty House 14. What to Do About Roots in Drains 15. How to Dig Up Plants and Move Them 16. How to Have Flower Bed Color All Year 17. Landscape Gardening with Containers 18. Starting Wildflowers 19. Starting a Lawn 20. Making and Keeping a Good Hedge 21. Pruning Trees and Shrubs 22. Palm Tree Care 23. Caring for Saguaros, Ocotillos, Avages, and Prickly Pears 24. Roses in the Desert: Hard Work and Some Disappointments 25. Landscaping with Citrus 26. Swimming Pools: Plants, Play, and Water-Saving 27. Landscape Maintenance While You're Away 28. Condominiums: Common Grounds, Common Problems Part 2 - A Month-by-Month Maintenance Guide




Month by Month Gardening in the Deserts of Nevada


Book Description

The Month-By-Month series is the perfect companion to take the guesswork out of gardening. With this book, you'll know what to do each month to have gardening success all year. Written by authors in your state, the information is tailored to the issues that affect your garden the most. When is the best time to plant trees and shrubs? Should I fertilize my lawn now? Is it time to prune my roses? What should I be doing in my garden this month? You'll find the answers to these questions and much more inside. This easy-to-use book highlights each of the ten major plant categories using a monthly format. It guides you through each month of the year, telling you exactly what your garden needs. It is like having an expert in the garden with you all year long. Valuable hints are located throughout the book, and beautiful photographs will inspire you. Written just for gardeners where you live, you can be confident that the information is right for you-and your garden will show it.




Edible Landscaping in the Desert Southwest


Book Description

You can have a totally edible garden in the Desert Southwest (and other similar year-round climates). Edible fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers can be as decorative in the garden as they are on the dinner table. Change your ornamental garden into a treasure for the eye, a safe environment for family and pets -- and you can eat it too!




The Desert Gardener's Calendar


Book Description

What's the best time to plant or prune? When should you fertilize fruit trees? What's the earliest date to set out tomato plants? Gardeners in the desert Southwest can't rely on books that try to cover the whole country. Summer heat, less rain, and shorter, unreliable growing seasons are important factors in the desert. That's why The Desert Gardener's Calendar can be essential to gardening success. Whether you're raising vegetables, nursing citrus trees, or just trying to keep your front yard looking its best, you'll find that this handy book gives you a valuable month-by-month perspective on the year. It helps you to focus on necessary activities and reminds you of simple tasks you might overlook. It's especially valuable for people who've moved to the desert regions from other parts of the country and follow old gardening dates that seldom apply to their new home. The Desert Gardener's Calendar is a guide to the maintenance you need to do to keep your garden flourishing and your landscape attractive throughout the year. It combines the month-by-month gardening and landscaping activities from two separate books by George Brookbank--Desert Gardening, Fruits and Vegetables and Desert Landscaping--and was created in response to readers who have found the calendar sections of those books especially invaluable. And because not all deserts are the same, Brookbank is careful to point out differences in scheduling encountered by gardeners in low- and middle-elevation regions in California and the Southwest. "I believe," says the author, "that if you use this calendar and let your judgment become more accurate with experience, you'll soon be doing everything right." Although that might suggest a day when you don't need this book, chances are good that, if you're a desert gardener, right now you do.




In a Desert Garden


Book Description

When John Alcock replaced the Bermuda grass in his suburban Arizona lawn with gravel, cacti, and fairy dusters, he was doing more than creating desert landscaping. He seeded his property with flowers to entice certain insects and even added a few cowpies to attract termites, creating a personal laboratory for ecological studies. His observations of life in his own front yard provided him with the fieldnotes for this unusual book. In a Desert Garden draws readers into the strange and fascinating world of plants and animals native to Arizona's Sonoran Desert. As Alcock studies the plants in his yard, he shares thoughts on planting, weeding, and pruning that any gardener will appreciate. And when commenting on the mating rituals of spiders and beetles or marveling at the camouflage of grasshoppers and caterpillars, he uses humor and insight to detail the lives of the insects that live in his patch of desert. Celebrating the virtues of even aphids and mosquitoes, Alcock draws the reader into the intricacies of desert life to reveal the complex interactions found in this unique ecosystem. In a Desert Garden combines meticulous science with contemplations of nature and reminds us that a world of wonder lies just outside our own doors.