Agaves, Yuccas, and Related Plants: A Gardener's Guide

by Mary F. Irish

Book Overview

These exotic natives of the Americas are among the most striking of drought-tolerant plants, and they make wonderful accents in the landscape, providing excellent contrasts to flowering perennial... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0881924423
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Timber Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.2" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

Good Book for Future Reference

Our landscape is filled with yuccas, agave and cactus. This book helps me to expand my knowledge of the varities of these plants and the zones they work in. An excellent book.

A Yucca review

A very nice referral source for a beginner with these types of plants. Nice pictures which help as well. Enjoyable and well written.

Fantastic Book

This is the book to have if you are interested in growing agaves, and yuccas particularly if you have an interest in growing them as landscape plants and want to know how hardy a particular species is likely to be. It has rapidly become the Bible for growers of these plants.

Terrific resource

I am the librarian at the Desert Botanical Garden and this book has been a tremendous addition to our collection. I have only had it for two weeks and have already used it several times to answer reference questions. The photos are wonderful and the index is extensive. What sets this book apart from all the rest, however, is the clear and succinct format used to describe each plant. Each reference includes the botanical name, synonyms, common names, descriptions of the size, leaves, blooms, distribution, propagation, cultural requirements, similar or related species, and uses. Mary and Gary Irish have created an invaluable resource for anyone interested in agaves, yuccas and related plants.

Agaves, Yuccas, and Related Plants : A Gardener's Guide

This book fills a real gap in information for gardeners interested in agaves, yuccas, and similar plants, such as hesperaloes. I haven't found any other book that lists so many species of these plants AND has photographs of each. The text has extensive information for both identifying and growing these plants, whereas many books on plants will emphasize one aspect or the other. In other words, this book would be useful for botanists as well as gardeners and horticulturalists.There is also some useful information on the cold hardiness and adaptability of these plants to wetter climates. Some experimental gardeners on the east coast of the U.S. may find the minimum temperature limits listed for some plants to be a little conservative. However, the horticultural information on growing these plants, more than makes up for that. All around, this is a very good book and would be of interest to anyone interested in growing or identifying agaves, yuccas, and similar plants.