Great Garden Sources for Texans

by Nan Booth Simpson

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0963987941
• ISBN13: 9780963987945
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Tact
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

About The Book--

What To Expect From This Book: This book aims to serve both experienced and inexperienced gardeners. Gardening is the #1 hobby in America today. An increasing number of homeowners are no longer satisfied with planting a flat of purple petunias and retiring to the deck with a cold beer. For some, gardening has become a competitive sport. If you are a gardener who would pursue to the ends of the earth a rare Texas native snowbell (Styrax youngae), which can only be found in the wild in a few remote sites in Mexico, I've got your source. I'm fairly certain that the majority of people who will read this book truly enjoy their gardens, but have limited time to spend. Even homeowners who only mow the lawn to keep the neighbors from complaining should find resources within these pages. I've laced the text with timesaving ideas and, hopefully, introduce you to products to make every aspect of gardening easier and more rewarding. Good overall design is another matter. You can consign plant mistakes to a compost pile, but a drainage problem, a misplaced patio or an ugly retaining wall won't simply go away. As a landscape architect, I promise my clients that I'll save them money in the long run by preventing costly mistakes. It only seems fair that I should share the same information with readers. We hope you'll take the time to read the text that precedes the source lists throughout the book. In Chapter One, we've included a brief history of gardening to help you choose your "garden style". Then we discuss the physiography of Texas and divide the state into twelve distinct gardening regions. We think it is folly to attempt to garden without a complete understanding of the soils, climate and native vegetation of your region. Further, we believe that gardeners hold a large responsibility for maintaining the unique diversity of each region. In organizing a book as comprehensive as this, the first question we asked was, "Where do we begin?" After much deliberation, we decided to begin with North and East Texas, which includes three very different garden regions: Cross Timbers & Grand Prairie (including Ft Worth); Trinity Blacklands (including Dallas); and the Piney Woods (including Tyler and Nacogdoches). Next, we work our way clockwise, along the Gulf Coast, which incorporates: Coastal Prairies & Marshes (including Houston); Coastal Bend (including Corpus Christi and Padre Island); and the Valley (from Brownsville to McAllen). Then we go back up through Central Texas: Rio Grande Plain (including San Antonio and Laredo); Central Prairies & Savannas (including Waco and Bryan/College Station); and the Hill Country (including Austin). Finally we cover West Texas: Red Rolling Plains (Wichita Falls, Abilene and San Angelo); High Plains (Amarillo, Lubbock and Midland); and the Trans-Pecos (including El Paso). In Chapter Two, we've provided the names and addresses of places to look for design inspiration. We've also provided reading lists, as well as some

Happy Texan

In perusing the library for books on Texas gardening, I came across this title. I almost didn't include it in my stash. Upon flipping through the pages, there weren't any "purdy" pictures. Boy am I glad I brought it home! I started putting a sticky note on the pages I wanted to photocopy and ended up putting one on every other page--that's a lot of sticky notes! So I had to buy it! This book is not only an up to date resource list for Texas by region or city, but has an information header in each category. This is invaluable. Sounds like a "resource" book would be pretty dry--but it's not. It's fun and well written and will go with me in my car always here in San Antonio and thru out Texas. My only regret is that it is a special order with 4-6 week delivery. Don't know why since it was published in 1999.