Xeriscape Handbook: A How-to Guide to Natural Resource-Wise Gardening

by Gayle Weinstein

Provides hands-on advice in creating your own Xeriscape garden, no matter where you live. As water bills skyrocket and concern for conserving potable water increases, homeowners, gardeners, and landscapers seek alternatives. Xeriscape plant materials are water-conserving, beautiful, and thrive in specific environments.  Xeriscape Handbook  takes an easy-to-follow, step-by-step approach to creating a water-wise garden. Environmental gardening factors are combined with the seven principles of Xeriscape and good gardening techniques.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

About the author

Gayle Weinstein is an avid gardener, writer and photographer. She has worked with Denver Botanic Gardens in their Xeriscape Experimental Garden, as well as other areas of the public garden. She is a graduate of the Denver University Publishing Institute.

Reviews

[Jamie Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I was looking for, specifically in terms of how it was organized, but plenty of good information.

[Deodand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be less specific than other books on xeriscaping that I've read recently. There is a lot of good advice here for someone who's starting with a piece of unworked ground, but if you're beginning with an established landscape you will want to read more books on the subject in addition to this one. There is a lot of sound advice about grading, which is the heart of the xeriscape, as it will help you conserve runoff.

It is important to read specifically about the area where you live when establishing a xeriscape. For instance, this book advises against planting Russian Olive trees because they are a noxious weed in the place where the author resides. In my home, several frost zones away, they are a good "citizen" in the xeriscape because they are hardy and beautiful. The extra-cold winters here keep Russian Olive trees from becoming invasive.

So read this book for a general grounding in the theory, then seek out local garden magazines and other books that are more in tune with mountainous regions, prairies, the seaside or tundra as you need them.

[Jinnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Annoyingly pedantic, dry as dirt. Long on details about plant types without giving any kind of compiled, referable list of actual plants that are xeriscape-friendly. Soil preparation section written as though my yard was a science experiment and I should be a chemist. I am sure that there are many, many better books on this subject for the typical homeowner.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read the entire book twice, just to make sure that I didn't miss anything. I also use it as a reference whenever I have questions about growing plants in the tough climate and soil of the Rocky Mountains.

[Felicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one wasn't what I was looking for at this time-- this was more on the soil, roots and water conservation part and I'm not there yet. I might pick this book up later when I am actually ready to do the yard.

[Mark]

Just browsed for now but decided I want a decent used copy for $5 via abebooks.