Southwestern Landscaping with Native Plants [Paperback]

Judith Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1987

This book has been the inspiration for tens of thousands of gardeners facing the challenging winds, soils, and droughts of low- and high-desert gardens. A perennial gardener's favourite, this guide - with 53 colour photographs and an all-new appendix of adapted plants - is the classic resource for reaping the rewards of landscaping with native and adaptive plants that will make a success of any gardening effort.

Editorial Reviews

Review

. . . a wealth of general information on design and maintenance that applies to landscapes throughout the Southwestern United States. -- Fine Gardening

More than just a plant book, it discusses in depth how to design with and grow native and arid land plants. -- Sunset Magazine

From the Publisher

The classic introduction to arid-land gardening in the uplands, mountains, mesas, prairies, river valleys, and meadows of the Southwest, by the region's most celebrated landscape designer and author.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Museum of New Mexico Press (December 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089013166X
• ISBN-13: 978-0890131664
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful book from the authoritative author, May 27, 2008

By 

C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Southwestern Landscaping with Native Plants (Paperback)

Any search of the web reveals Judith Phillips as the authority in this field, and this large, thick book reveals why. Encyclopedic in its presentation of native southwestern USA plants, it also discusses planning landscapes, maintenance, propagation, etc. and is therefore immediately useful to the gardener, like having a wise and knowledgeable friend at hand in the dry desert garden.

The other review here discusses the trouble of the northern New Mexico high altitudes. I have other challenges at under a mile high in a drought ridden desert with roaming herds of large jackrabbit which eat nearly anything green, including spiny cactus. As they say, under the right conditions, these rabbits will eat anything, even what they do not eat!

The European shrub Rosemary (romero) is one thing they will not eat, apparently, and so it is well planted here, as it also resists drought and in fact prefers good drainage. Nevertheless, I seek to restore native plants ravaged by years of overgrazing by those other large rodents: cattle, who have left nothing but greasebush to chew at.

Judith Phillips in her many books, but in particular this one, is the guru to turn to. This book is well laid out, with understandable tables and charts and room for notes in all the right places, as well as full color photos and other illustrations and all the right names, familiar and Linnean binomial nomenclature.

I only wish it provided much more precise and specific indications for my favorite native, the Ocotillo, including its propagation, but from the general information given we can determine proper techniques, including the rooting of cuttings (with hormones) and the starting of seeds (which I have a bag full on the kitchen table now that need sometihng very soon! Now where did I hide that bag of Perlite?!).

If you know of any desert rats like me hiding in exile in the southwestern desert, please send them this book and make them smile, a dusty dry smile but a smile. This is the one book that has it all, with every native plant of this region and how to grow it and where. Get one today. Who knows, the way global warming is going you might want one for your region too!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great gift, January 5, 2006

By 

Rebecca A. Baillie "rab10" (Woodland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Southwestern Landscaping with Native Plants (Paperback)

I originally bought this book as a gift for my mother who lives in New Mexico. She then bought two additional copies for her friends living in the area. While you can't really grow much at high altitude in New Mexico, the book did provide some realistic suggestions and help choosing what might grow.