Palm Springs-Style Gardening: The Complete Guide to Plants and Practices for Gorgeous Dryland Gardens - Softcover

Gilmer, Maureen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0932653898 ISBN 13: 9780932653895

Publisher: Sunbelt Pubns, 2008

Synopsis

Despite the Coachella Valley's near tropical climate, creating gardens in this desert can be trying. Wind, heat, sand and a dozen other factors must be considered and then solved or mitigated before plants will grow. While milder parts of California grow gardens so easily that books are hardly needed, low desert gardening is a whole new world where residents need help, and lots of it. This book blends numerous areas of interest:First is the basic how-to of desert gardening: heat, soils, water and wind. Second is the exploration of Palm Springs architecture from Spanish to Mid-century modern and how outdoor gardens are made to work with these styles. Third is a detailed presentation of the plants that will thrive here under ordinary care, and are naturally adapted to the dry climates of Australia, Mexico, Africa and South America. Rather than group plants by trees, shrubs and perennials as most books are laid out, Palm Springs Gardening organizes plants according to their botanical associations and their aesthetic ones so readers go straight to the kinds of plants they find most appealing.

About this title

About the Author:

Appearing weekly as the gardening guru on KMIR Ch. 6, NBC Palm Springs, Maureen Gilmer is one of California s leading horticultural experts. Over the past 25 years she has worked in all phases of horticulture from laborer to landscape architect. Her work has dominated garden book publishing with 15 titles, a nationally syndicated column Yard Smart , and frequent appearances in major magazines. She is also an established host and authority on DIY Network, a Scripps Television Network. Her colorful, useful, and informative website is MoPlants.com

Review:

Among the most prolific of garden writers, Maureen Mo Gilmer has published no less than fifteen books and lectures widely throughout the West. For health reasons, she and her husband moved to Palm Springs a few years ago, and , in typical Mo fashion, began to study the art and science of gardening in a desert-a different world for Northern California, which she had previously call home. The result is Palm Springs-Style Gardening, a glorious visual ramble through the plants and gardens that characterize the desert region of the Southwest. As the subtitle of the book suggests, Gilmer focuses on plants that succeed in desert gardens and the horticultural considerations that ensure their wise use. She begins by describing those characteristics of climate and land that define the desert and constrain the selection of garden plants: the intensity of the sun, the persistence of the wind, the inescapability of the heat, the challenges of the soil, and the scarcity of water. She then discusses the major plant groups available to the desert gardener, beginning with the iconic palms, cacti, and succulents, and continuing with native plants, tropicals, staples such as bougainvillea and lantana, trees for shade, and herbaceous plants for seasonal color. Gilmer ties all the information together in the final chapter, wherein she provides guidelines for selecting plants to pair with the various architectural styles found in the desert : Spanish, mid-century modern, desert natural, Mediterranean, and tropical. Along the way, the crisp text is embellished with capsules summaries of each chapter and a series of sidebars called Mo s Tips where she shares her secrets to successful desert gardening. Palm Springs-Style Gardening is both a visual treat and a practical guide to gardening in the drier parts of the Southwest, be they desert or Mediterranean-type climates. The rationale for plant choices and design concepts will be of value to gardeners throughout the arid West. -Richard G. Turner Jr. - Pacific Horticulture. --Pacific Horticulture

About this edition

• Publisher: Sunbelt Pubns
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0932653898
• ISBN 13: 9780932653895
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 150