Arizona Gardener's Guide [Paperback]

Mary Irish (Author)

Book Description

Series: Arizona Gardener's Guide | Publication Date: December 13, 2002

Gardening is now the favorite outdoor leisure activity in America. Homeowners realize the health benefits available from gardening and the potential increase in their home's property value.

Regional gardening titles offer the most useful advice because they provide credible information on the plants that perform best in specific states. Gardeners want information they can trust and use successfully in their own gardens.

The Arizona Gardener's Guide is a full-color plant selection resource guide written especially for Arizona gardeners. It includes the top 175 landscape plants as recommended by one of Arizona's most respected horticultural experts.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Gardening is now the favorite outdoor leisure activity in America. Homeowners realize the health benefits available from gardening and the potential increase in their home's property value.  Regional gardening titles offer the most useful advice because they provide credible information on the plants that perform best in specific states. Gardeners want information they can trust and use successfully in their own gardens.  The Arizona Gardener's Guide is a full-color plant selection resource guide written especially for Arizona gardeners. It includes the top 175 landscape plants as recommended by one of Arizona's most respected horticultural experts.

About the Author

Mary Irish is the former director of public horticulture at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. She has written extensively on dry-climate gardening, and is the coauthor (with her husband, Gary Irish) of "Agaves, Yuccas, and Related Plants." A Texas native residing in Arizona, Mary received her master's degree in geography from Texas A&M University. She is a regular contributor to several magazines, including "Sunset, " and teaches classes on the care and culture of agaves, cacti, and other desert shrubs and perennials as well as introductory classes for beginning gardeners. She once hosted a weekly Phoenix-based radio show called "The Arizona Gardener, " and has also helped produce several television programs about gardening.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (December 13, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888608420
• ISBN-13: 978-1888608427
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sonoran Desert Gardening, October 26, 2004

By 

E. Hanneman "SonoranReader" (Sonoran Desert, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arizona Gardener's Guide (Paperback)

This book is one of the best introductions I've found on gardening in the Sonoran desert. It is well-designed, with graphical cues that tell readers if the plant is drought-tolerant, fragrant, wildlife-friendly, Sonoran, etc.

Information is presented in convenient and easily digested sections, e.g., shrubs, trees, vines, etc. Common names are featured prominently, with botanical names underneath. (I eventually learned the botanical names so that I could read and understand books that offered more in-depth information, e.g., on particular agaves, yuccas and nolinas.) It also includes brief information on care, companion planting, bloom period, size (you'd be surprised how big some of these plants get), etc.

If you seek books with greater depth, check out "Agaves, Yuccas, and Related Plants: A Gardener's Guide" by Gary and Mary Irish, or "Landscape Plants for Dry Regions: More Than 600 Species From Around the World" by Warren Jones and Charles Sacamano. Another good resource for Sonoran gardeners is the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix (they offer a hotline and many other resources).

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good quick-reference guide for Arizona gardeners, June 11, 2007

By 

David F. Nolan (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Arizona Gardener's Guide (Paperback)

We moved to Arizona two years ago, and my wife wanted a good quick reference guide to use in planting and tending our desert garden. This book fills the bill nicely, providing descriptions and clear photos of approximately 200 plants, along with tips on how to best use them in a garden. Ms. Irish's writing style is straightfoward, even a bit plodding, but readable. A good companion to "Plants for Dry Climates" by Duffield and Jones.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An indispensible guide for Arizona gardeners, June 30, 2007

By 

Anita C. Challis "I like things that work pro... (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arizona Gardener's Guide (Paperback)

Information from books written by authors without the experience of gardening in Arizona, do not work in this state. Mary Irish has spent her life working for a variety of Arizona gardening organizations. She knows the climate so her information works... simple as that.

This book is good for making plant selections when planning your garden. It offers nice photos and hardiness information specific to Arizona climate and soil conditions. Use in conjunction with Irish's Month-By-Month Gardening in the Desert Southwest and you should succeed.

There is a very short list of books required for Arizona gardening (see my list on Amazon)... but this one is high on it.