Wondering what to plant in your yard during this drought season?
Help, if not inspiration, may be at hand with new gardening books. If you can’t plant, at least you can dream a bit about gardens.
At the head of the list is the redesigned and updated “Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping,” ($29.95)
From the editors of Sunset Magazine comes a look at trends and forward-thinking designs for the West. Touted as “the ultimate resource for turning garden dreams into dream gardens,” it’s a photo-rich collection showcasing projects that range from rooftop gardens to “room-scaping”— creating outdoor living rooms from homelike elements.
Designed for beginner and expert gardeners, “The Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping” showcases new ideas in garden design, complete with tips, guidelines and how-to content, providing ample information for “do-it-yourselfers” to tackle basic projects — or for the less ambitious to take to landscape professionals.
The book features 600 full-color photographs of the Western gardens, large to small, urban and rural, on beaches and mountains and surburban lots.
According to the editors, three main elements set this book apart from previous editions:
• A focus on earth-friendly garden design reflects the latest guidelines set by the American Society of Landscape Architects, highlighting permeable paving, use of recycled materials, recirculating water features, waterwise and native plants and low-voltage lighting.
• Expert tips from professionals, like adding depth to a narrow garden by orienting it diagonally and using compact and columnar plants around the perimeter.
• “Cool ideas and secrets from first time gardeners who have already gone through a landscape remodel and learned from it,” like tossing wildflower seeds out the back door if you can’t stand looking at the dirt patch but aren’t ready to remodel for another year.
The emphasis is on native, sustainable and waterwise, with a section devoted to “Drought Strategies.”
The trends in gardening styles in using small spaces, driveways and rooftops, as well as container gardens, and vertical gardens. Alternatives to lawns is another hot topic, as is incorporating found “stuff” into landscaping.
It also includes fresh ideas for garden elements like arbors and trellises, colorful paint, fences, firepits, fountains, outdoor kitchens, paths, patios, pools, sheds, tool storage and walls
“The Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping” features a practical section on planning a new garden or overhauling an existing one. Tips include how to chart the sun across the property to pinpoint areas of light and shade, how to choose a landscape professional or work up a DIY strategy evaluate your site, how to make a plan and checklist, cut down on garden design and material costs, and find solutions for dealing with regional problems such as drought, wind and fire.
Many of the projects are accompanied by before-and-after photographs from real gardens.
“We designed this book to showcase the West’s hottest garden design today as well as to inspire and empower gardeners to create their outdoor dream spaces,” said Sunset’s garden editor Kathleen Brenzel. “Whether you’re a true DIY-er or will enlist the help of a landscape professional, this book is an invaluable resource.”
For the less ambitious but still aspiring, Sunset has also published “The 20 Minute Gardener, Projects, Plants and Designs for Quick and Easy Gardening” ($24.95). Here are ideas like a “Moon Garden”with white and silvery plants that will glow in moonlight, or a “Unthirsty Herb Garden” of water-wise favorites.
It also includes “the top 10 easy care plants” in categories of perennials, annuals, grasses, ferns, bulbs, shrubs and edibles.
From Taunton Press comes “Landscaping Ideas That Work,” by Julie Moir Messervy ($21.95). Although its emphasis is not specifically the Western U.S., it has a rich assortment of design ideas that include outdoor living spaces and diagrams.
One of the most charming new garden books is “The Wildlife-Friendly Vegetable Gardener, How to Grow Food in Harmony With Nature” by Tammi Hartung, with lovely illustrations by Holly Ward Bimba (Story; $16.95). Hartung, a medical herbalist and organic grower from Colorado, addresses the challenge of creating a “peaceful place where perennials attract pollinators, ponds house slug-eating frogs, mulch protects predator insects in the soil, mint gently deters unwanted mice and hedgerows shelter and feed many kinds of wildlife.”
She includes “smart stragetics for peaceful coexistence” with unwelcome visitors as well as ideas for attractive beneficial residents in gardens.
Finally, the “The World’s Largest Seed Catalog” is out from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This is a book you have to see to believe; 355 pages of seeds from amaranth to wildflower, plus stories, recipes and growing tips. It’s a treasure. Even if there is no water to grow anything. For more information, visit RareSeeds.com.
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