This book is a quick and easy-to-use reference guide for choosing plant material for landscape designs. This reference manual includes comprehensive lists with search criteria for each of the major plant groups, including trees, shrubs, groundcovers, perennials, vines, grasses, and ferns. These plant groups contain hundreds of specific species, varieties, and cultivars that are readily available in the marketplace from the major production nurseries. Landscape architects, designers, contractors, or anyone who designs with plants, can easily choose plants that will work on their site. The book is technical enough for the professional, yet simple enough to be used by the layperson. Both botanical and common names are used and an extensive amount of cultural and environmental information is presented. While many other books of this kind give only basic information such as sun/shade, height/width, there are so many as 30 specific categories for each plant group. The categories cover such important criteria as light and soil requirements, zone hardiness, height and width, pest and disease susceptibility, urban tolerance, and tolerance to salt and drought. The lists also include many criteria often overlooked such as growth rates, overall messiness, root systems, minimal fall clean up, maintenance levels, soil PH and landscape value/use, and many visual characteristics such as texture, foliage color and fall colors, bloom colors and seasons, shapes and forms, attractive bark and foliage and more. There is also a candid Pros & Cons section covering some realistic considerations for each of the plant species groups.

Plant selection and garden style are deeply influenced by where we are gardening. To successfully grow a range of beautiful ornamental plants, every gardener has to know the specifics of the region’s climate, soil, and geography. Growing the Southwest Garden, by New Mexico-based garden designer Judith Phillips, is a practical and beautiful handbook for ornamental gardening in a region known for its low rainfall and high temperatures. With more than thirty years of experience gardening in the Southwest, Phillips has created an essential guide, featuring regionally specific advice on zones, microclimates, soil, pests, and maintenance. Profiles of the best plants for the region include complete information on growth and care.

What can we do, right now, in our own landscapes, to help solve climate change? Predictions about future effects of climate change range from mild to dire - but we're already seeing warmer winters, hotter summers, and more extreme storms. Proposed solutions often seem expensive and complex, and can leave us as individuals at a loss, wondering what, if anything, can be done. Sue Reed and Ginny Stibolt offer a rallying cry in response - instead of wringing our hands, let's roll up our sleeves. Based on decades of experience, this book is packed with simple, practical steps anyone can take to beautify any landscape or garden, while helping protect the planet and the species that call it home. Topics include: Working actively to shrink our carbon footprint through mindful landscaping and gardening Creating cleaner air and water Increasing physical comfort during hotter seasons Supporting birds, butterflies, pollinators, and other wildlife. This book is the ideal tool for homeowners, gardeners, and landscape professionals who want to be part of the solution to climate change. AWARDS GOLD | 2018 Nautilus Book Awards: Ecology & Environment

Highlighting more than 1,000 plants--from trees and shrubs to vines and grasses--this updated edition of Odenwald and Turners guide keeps with a traditional emphasis on the practical use of plants to solve and prevent landscape design problems.

Homeowners who want practical information, ideas and solutions will find this guide an unmatched resource; Creative design solutions and plant selection lists for a variety of landscape situations; Inspiring photographs and illustrations provide easy-to-follow instructions; Installation procedures for every landscape planting project; Helpful hints and do-it-yourself techniques from America's leading gardening and landscaping authority.

A resource on selecting woody plants for the home landscape covers every aspect of choosing trees and shrubs, with profiles of each plant's hardiness, cultivation requirements, history, size, growth rate, availability, and special characteristics, as well as complete maintenance and care guidelines.