“Eye-popping proof that water-wise gardens are bold, beautiful and brilliantly hued.” —San Diego Home and Garden Dry weather defines the southwest, and it's getting dryer. As water becomes more precious, our gardens suffer. If we want to keep gardening, we must revolutionize our plant choices and garden practices. Hot Color, Dry Garden provides a joyful, color-filled way to exuberantly garden in low-water conditions. Garden expert Nan Sterman highlights inspiring examples of brilliant gardens filled with water-smart plants. You'll find information about designing for color using plants, architecture, and accessories, along with a plant directory that features drought-tolerant plants that dazzle.

Acclaimed landscape designer Daniel Nolan showcases the best of desert gardenscapes that have become synonymous with luxury minimalism, and presents techniques that will inspire readers to transform available space into their own modern dry garden. Hot days, cool nights, dry air, a blazing sun—California’s Mediterranean climate is not what you think of when you hear “lush garden,” but leading garden designers Nolan and his peers have revolutionized this genre with their artful designs. Nolan, the authority on dry gardens, has carefully selected 25 unique public and private garden masterpieces, diverse examples of interior and exterior gardening techniques. Readers will be treated to a complete look at crafting elevated and rustic gardens through a variety of environments, from pools and pocket gardens, front lawns, balconies, and living walls to retail spaces, museums, and vineyards. Each detailed project offers a different approach to incorporating the desert’s wild array of flora and becomes a practical tool, addressing various materials and horticultural and compositional solutions. Rich with bold architecture of spiny cacti, brilliant and muted sage, rosy succulents, bright, dusty sands, and red rocks, Dry Gardens proves that inspiration has no geographic boundaries. It will be appreciated by lovers of gardens and interior design from around the world.

“For those of you—and your numbers are growing—gardening in drought-stricken parts of the country, The Bold Dry Garden will quench your thirst for inspiration.” —New York Times Book Review Ruth Bancroft is a dry gardening pioneer. Her lifelong love of plants led to the creation of one of the most acclaimed public gardens, The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. The Bold Dry Garden offers unparalleled access to the garden and the extraordinary woman responsible for it. In its stunningly photographed pages, you’ll discover the history of the garden and the design principles and plant palette that make it unique. Packed with growing and maintenance tips, profiles of signature plants for a dry garden, and innovative design techniques, The Bold Dry Garden has everything you need to create a garden that is lush, waterwise, and welcoming.

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

Now gardeners can bring an exotic flair to their gardens by introducing the color, textures, and fabulous foliage of tropical plants. Not just for hot climates anymore, bromeliads, orchids, bananas, palms, birds of paradise, elephant ears, canna, and more can bring a touch of the tropics to any garden. Gardener's can choose from more than 150 plants featured in this book, each chosen for the visual impact it adds to any landscape or container garden. Plants are organized by a range of clearly defined zones, making it easy for gardeners to find the plants that will succeed in their landscape. Author Nellie Neal explains how to best use tropical plants both indoors and out. To make this book a universally useful guide, it is organized to explain how to grow tropical plants in a wide range of clearly defined zones. Further, the book illustrates how to best use these plants in landscapes and containers, indoors and out, no matter where you live. It is a practical, user-friendly celebration of tropical plants.

Leavened with humor and rueful wisdom, Nold's pithy descriptions zero in on each plant's outstanding ornamental characteristics while giving the reader an accurate idea of what to expect from the plant's performance in the garden." "Although Nold addresses himself primarily to western gardeners, anyone with an interest in hardy, drought-tolerant plants will find in these pages an abundance of tempting possibilities with which to experiment."--BOOK JACKET.

Gardening with Drought-Friendly Plants is an essential guide to growing and maintaining plants best suited to our changing climate of warmer, drier summers. Drawing on his two decades of experience working with drought-friendly and Mediterranean plants, gardening expert Tony Hall profiles more than two hundred species and cultivars that are suitable for all types of planting environments, whether a large outdoor plot or a small indoor pot. Hall offers tips and advice on maintenance and pruning and shows which plants can survive with minimal tending--perfect for leaving alone during a gardener's vacation. Many of the plants Hall chooses are native to Mediterranean climates and therefore well-adapted to growing in hot, dry conditions. These plants provide year-round interest in the garden through the wide varieties in their size, shade, and scent, and continue to perform during winter by way of evergreen color, silver foliage, or attractive dried seed heads. They are also perfectly suited to low water usage, something any gardener should be conscious of in a changing environment. ​ Beautifully illustrated with more than 170 color photographs, and featuring accessible expert advice on watering, pruning, and other plant care essentials, Gardening with Drought-Friendly Plants is the perfect resource for patio, courtyard, or window gardener.