Dryland Gardening: Plants that Survive and Thrive in Tough Conditions

by Jennifer Bennett

An essential reference to gardening in hot and cold dry climates. Gardening where summers are hot and prone to periods of drought, or where winters are snowy one week and freezing rain the next, is best managed by xeriscaping -- dryland gardening techniques that favor not only water conservation but also the conservation of time, energy and other resources. Xeriscaping enthusiasts exist throughout North America wherever the climate calls for dryland gardening, from the Great Plains prairies to the California desert. Dryland Gardening explains time-tested This book includes both practical advice for dry-climate gardeners as well as an extensive planting list for grasses and groundcovers, bulbs, perennials and vines, vegetables and annuals, herbs, roses and shrubs. Each plant entry Dryland Gardening celebrates a resilient garden with a beauty that requires fewer resources and less time.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

Reviews

[Hazel Rainfall · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is informative yet also filled with a high degree of opinions and thoughts that are outside the usual things seen in gardening books. I disliked how most of the plants described did not have a picture and the descriptions were not super clear or detailed so as to create a clear mental image of what the plant should look like. This meant that I had to research every type of plant so I could learn more about it in order to determine if it was actually appropriate for my xeric landscape needs. Overall this book did not save me time or help much.

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

add some discipline and this could practically be a Bible.
Why can't I settle down and keep track of things instead of having crispies and drowns together?

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book is not the end-all be-all of dryland gardening, it is a decent starter book for ideas on what plants to grow in such conditions. It is written in an encyclopedic style, with plants broken down into subgroups such as "perennials and vines" and "annual flowers". When I first started in a garden with a confluence of conditions I'd never had before - hot, windy, rocky, poor soil, and sloped - this was one of the books I consulted to get ideas about what would thrive, and many of its recommendations turned out to do pretty well.

[Linnae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly comprehensive, from xeriscaping advice to plant descriptions. My take-away message: if a plant looks wilted in the morning, it needs water ASAP; it's about to keel over completely. Usually a plant will recover overnight somewhat, even it was a hot/windy day.

Also: it seems that many of the plants that survive in a dryland garden are invasive in better conditions. Duly noted.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent - ideas for how best to propagate, plan, etc. Then listings of drought-tolerant plants with details of good hybrids.

[Susan Mazur Stommen · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the books I read in designing my landscaping to stand up to extreme heat, full sun, low water, and high winds.