Arboretum Library: E-Books and How To Access Them

Gardeners and garden designers are having a love affair with agaves. It's easy to see why—they're low maintenance, drought-tolerant, and strikingly sculptural, with an astounding range of form and color. Many species are strikingly variegated, and some have contrasting ornamental spines on the edges of their leaves. Fabulous for container gardening or in-the-ground culture, they combine versatility with easy growability. In Agaves, plant expert Greg Starr profiles 75 species, with additional cultivars and hybrids, best suited to gardens and landscapes. Each plant entry includes a detailed description of the plant, along with its cultural requirements, including hardiness, sun exposure, water needs, soil requirements, and methods of propagation. Agaves can change dramatically as they age and this comprehensive guide includes photos showing each species from youth to maturity—a valuable feature unique to this book.

Population and economic growth, changing social values about the importance of water quality and the environment, and Native American water-right claims will continue to drive growing U.S. demand for water resources. Expansion of the U.S. energy sector is expected to further increase regional demands for water. At the same time, projected climate change, through warming temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and reduced snow-pack, is expected to reduce water supplies and increase water demand across much of the West. These trends are placing greater pressure on existing water allocations, heightening the importance of water management and conservation for the sustainability of irrigated agriculture. This book draws on several USDA agricultural production and water-use analyses and surveys, as well as an extensive literature review, to describe the U.S. irrigated agriculture sector, existing and emerging water demands, trends in water-use efficiency in irrigated agriculture, and funding levels (private and public) for farm-level irrigation investments.

"A beautifully-written, practical guide to planning and creating your own rain garden." --Green Upgrader You probably spend hundreds of dollars watering your yard, but there is an easy way to save money and resources--by collecting rain to reuse in front and backyards. In Creating Rain Gardens, water conservation experts Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and Apryl Uncapher walk you through the entire process, with step-by-step instructions for designing and building swales, French drains, rain gardens, and ephemeral ponds. From soil preparation, planting, troubleshooting, and maintenance, to selecting palettes of water-loving plants that provide four-season interest and a habitat for wildlife, Creating Rain Gardens covers everything you need to create a beautiful rain garden at home.

What's the best time to plant or prune? When should you fertilize fruit trees? What's the earliest date to set out tomato plants? Gardeners in the desert Southwest can't rely on books that try to cover the whole country. Summer heat, less rain, and shorter, unreliable growing seasons are important factors in the desert. That's why The Desert Gardener's Calendar can be essential to gardening success. Whether you're raising vegetables, nursing citrus trees, or just trying to keep your front yard looking its best, you'll find that this handy book gives you a valuable month-by-month perspective on the year. It helps you to focus on necessary activities and reminds you of simple tasks you might overlook.It's especially valuable for people who've moved to the desert regions from other parts of the country and follow old gardening dates that seldom apply to their new home. The Desert Gardener's Calendar is a guide to the maintenance you need to do to keep your garden flourishing and your landscape attractive throughout the year. It combines the month-by-month gardening and landscaping activities from two separate books by George Brookbank--Desert Gardening, Fruits and Vegetables and Desert Landscaping--and was created in response to readers who have found the calendar sections of those books especially invaluable. And because not all deserts are the same, Brookbank is careful to point out differences in scheduling encountered by gardeners in low- and middle-elevation regions in California and the Southwest. "I believe," says the author, "that if you use this calendar and let your judgment become more accurate with experience, you'll soon be doing everything right." Although that might suggest a day when you don't need this book, chances are good that, if you're a desert gardener, right now you do.

George Brookbank has distilled nearly twenty years' experience--as an extension agent in urban horticulture with the University of Arizona--into a practical book that tells how to avoid problems with desert landscaping before they occur and how to correct those that do. In the first part, "How to Start and Maintain a Desert Landscape," he provides 28 easy-to-use chapters that address concerns ranging from how to start a wildflower garden to how to cope with Texas root rot. In Part Two, "A Month-By-Month Maintenance Guide," he offers a handy almanac that tells what to do and what to watch out for each month of the year, with cross-references to the chapters in Part One. Homeowners who maintain their own landscape will find in this book ways to make the work more satisfying and productive, while those who hire landscape contractors can make sure the work is done effectively and economically. "You'll find all kinds of books on desert landscape design and materials, irrigation system and design, and landscape installation," says Brookbank. "So far as I know, however, this is the only book that tells you what to do with what you've got and how to keep it growing." CONTENTS Part 1 - How to Start and Maintain a Desert Landscape 1. Desert Conditions: How They Are "Different" 2. Plants Are Like People: They're Not Alike 3. Use Arid-Land Plants to Save Water 4. How to Irrigate in the Desert 5. How to Design and Install a Drip Irrigation System 6. Soils and Their Improvement I: How to Plant in the Desert 7. Soils and Their Improvement II: How to Use Fertilizers 8. What to Do When Things Go Wrong: A Troubleshooter's Guide 9. How to Avoid--and Repair--Frost Damage 10. How to Control "Weeds" 11. Palo Verde Borer Beetle: What to Do 12. How to Avoid Texas Root Rot 13. When You Move Into an Empty House 14. What to Do About Roots in Drains 15. How to Dig Up Plants and Move Them 16. How to Have Flower Bed Color All Year 17. Landscape Gardening with Containers 18. Starting Wildflowers 19. Starting a Lawn 20. Making and Keeping a Good Hedge 21. Pruning Trees and Shrubs 22. Palm Tree Care 23. Caring for Saguaros, Ocotillos, Avages, and Prickly Pears 24. Roses in the Desert: Hard Work and Some Disappointments 25. Landscaping with Citrus 26. Swimming Pools: Plants, Play, and Water-Saving 27. Landscape Maintenance While You're Away 28. Condominiums: Common Grounds, Common Problems Part 2 - A Month-by-Month Maintenance Guide

"Designing with Succulents is inspiring, practical, and complete--a treasure for any gardener who loves these otherworldly beauties." --Kathleen N. Brenzel, Sunset Succulents offer dazzling possibilities and require very little maintenance to remain lush and alluring year-round. No one knows them better than the Queen of Succulents, Debra Lee Baldwin. This new, completely revised edition of her bestselling classic is a design compendium that is as practical as it is inspirational. Designing with Succulents shares design and cultivation basics, hundreds of succulent plant recommendations, and 50 companion plant profiles. Lavishly illustrated with 400 photographs, you'll find everything you need to visualize, create, and nurture a thriving, water-smart succulent garden.

This book deals with ways and means of managing food and water security in various agroclimatic environments through the integration of R & D, training, people participation, agronomic practices, economic instruments, and administrative policies.

Judith Lowry's voice and experiences make a rich matrix for essays that include discussions of wildflower gardening, the ecology of native grasses, wildland seed-collecting, principles of natural design, and plant/animal interactions. This lyrical and articulate mix of the practical and the poetic combines personal story, wildland ecology, restoration gardening practices, and native plant horticulture.

It is possible to have a great garden anywhere in Australia, even under the toughest water restrictions. Good Gardens with Less Water will show you how. A companion to Kevin Handreck's best-selling Gardening Down-Under, this new book is a practical guide to gardening with limited water.This beautifully illustrated, full-colour book contains a wealth of information on such key topics as: how to improve soil structure to maximise the retention of water for use by plants; selecting drought-tolerant native and exotic plants; working out how much water to apply to different types of plants; choosing the best lawn grass for your climate; rainwater harvesting and use; and how to avoid problems when greywater is used in the garden.With specific chapters devoted to watering systems and equipment, mulches, planting techniques and potted plants, this book offers practical solutions for anyone who wishes to garden sustainably.

How to harvest water and nutrients, select drought-tolerant plants, and create natural diversity Because climatic uncertainty has now become "the new normal," many farmers, gardeners and orchard-keepers in North America are desperately seeking ways to adapt their food production to become more resilient in the face of such "global weirding." This book draws upon the wisdom and technical knowledge from desert farming traditions all around the world to offer time-tried strategies for: Building greater moisture-holding capacity and nutrients in soils Protecting fields from damaging winds, drought, and floods Harvesting water from uplands to use in rain gardens and terraces filled with perennial crops Delecting fruits, nuts, succulents, and herbaceous perennials that are best suited to warmer, drier climates Gary Paul Nabhan is one of the world's experts on the agricultural traditions of arid lands. For this book he has visited indigenous and traditional farmers in the Gobi Desert, the Arabian Peninsula, the Sahara Desert, and Andalusia, as well as the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Painted deserts of North America, to learn firsthand their techniques and designs aimed at reducing heat and drought stress on orchards, fields, and dooryard gardens. This practical book also includes colorful "parables from the field" that exemplify how desert farmers think about increasing the carrying capacity and resilience of the lands and waters they steward. It is replete with detailed descriptions and diagrams of how to implement these desert-adapted practices in your own backyard, orchard, or farm. This unique book is useful not only for farmers and permaculturists in the arid reaches of the Southwest or other desert regions. Its techniques and prophetic vision for achieving food security in the face of climate change may well need to be implemented across most of North America over the next half-century, and are already applicable in most of the semiarid West, Great Plains, and the U.S. Southwest and adjacent regions of Mexico.

The hellstrip--the space between a street and a public sidewalk, also known as a tree park, boulevard, meridian, and planting strip--is finally getting the attention it deserves! Gardeners everywhere are taking advantage of the space as an environmentally friendly way to add curb appeal to their homes, expand the size of their gardens, and conserve resources. Hellstrip Gardening by Evelyn Hadden, the author of the acclaimed Beautiful No-Mow Yards, is the first book to show you exactly how to reclaim this oft-ignored space. This comprehensive guide covers how to determine the city and Home Owner's Association rules governing the area, how to choose plants that thrive in tough situations, how to design pathways for accessibility, and much more. Gorgeous color photographs of hellstrip gardens across the country offer inspiration and visual guidance to anyone ready to tackle this final frontier. With Hellstrip Gardening in hand, you can finally create the paradise you want in the most unexpected of places!

"Eye-popping proof that water-wise gardens are bold, beautiful and brilliantly hued." --San Diego Home and Garden Dry weather defines the southwest, and it's getting dryer. As water becomes more precious, our gardens suffer. If we want to keep gardening, we must revolutionize our plant choices and garden practices. Hot Color, Dry Garden provides a joyful, color-filled way to exuberantly garden in low-water conditions. Garden expert Nan Sterman highlights inspiring examples of brilliant gardens filled with water-smart plants. You'll find information about designing for color using plants, architecture, and accessories, along with a plant directory that features drought-tolerant plants that dazzle.

¿Cuál es el mejor tiempo del año para plantar? ¿Cuándo es el mejor tiempo para fertilizar el árbol frutal? ¿Cuándo se debe plantar la mata de tomate en la primavera? Los jardineros que viven en el desierto del sudoeste no pueden contar con las prácticas recomendadas para otras partes del país. El sol del verano, las lluvias esporádicas y las cortas e inestables temporadas de cultivación producen una nueva serie de reglas para el jardinero del desierto. Jardinería desértica---mes por mes le servirá de guía para cuidar las plantas de su jardín y determinar el mejor tiempo para plantar, podar, y regar. Este libro es especialmente útil para los jardineros y residentes recién llegados al sudoeste desértico. Si usted cultiva vegetales o árboles frutales y cítricos, o si sencillamente quiere mantener un jardín hermoso, encontrará que este libro práctico le informará sobre las labores necesarias y le ayudará a recordar las tareas importantes que inadvertidamente podría olvidar. Now available in a Spanish-language edition, this popular guide provides pointers to the maintenance needed to keep gardens flourishing and landscapes attractive throughout the year. Translated by master gardener Félix Hurtado, Jardinería desértica makes a wealth of common-sense wisdom available to Spanish-speaking readers.

Out of the Scientist's Garden is written for anyone who wants to understand food and water a little better - for those growing vegetables in a garden, food in a subsistence plot or crops on vast irrigated plains. It is also for anyone who has never grown anything before but has wondered how we will feed a growing population in a world of shrinking resources.Although a practicing scientist in the field of water and agriculture, the author has written, in story form accessible to a wide audience, about the drama of how the world feeds itself. The book starts in his own fruit and vegetable garden, exploring the 'how and why' questions about the way things grow, before moving on to stories about soil, rivers, aquifers and irrigation. The book closes with a brief history of agriculture, how the world feeds itself today and how to think through some of the big conundrums of modern food production.

Pamela Burton begins every garden or landscape project, no matter the size, with a big idea. The idea, according to Burton, "must be simple, harmonious, perceptible and the product of a totality of experience." Following the careful observation of a site's natural forces, she lets her mind wander beyond professional knowledge. For Burton, landscapes are symbolic creationswild spaces in which the journey itself, a sequence of discrete experiences in space and time, is paramount. Her Bonhill Residence, overlooking Los Angeles's west side, was inspired by the elegant gardens of Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, England and is conceived as a series of outdoor "rooms." In her design for the Santa Monica Public Library, Burton created a series of courtyards that weave the interior spaces together, and are integrated with the library as a metaphor for bringing light to the world beneath the surface of the ocean, in the same way that she perceives libraries bringing knowledge to light. Working with Moore, Ruble, Yudell Architects, Burton's landscape designreinforces the library's civic quality. Receptive to the nuances and idiosyncrasies of a site but unafraid to explore the world of ideas, Burton has established herself as a leading figure within the enduring legacy of California modern landscape design. Pamela Burton Landscapes presents nineteen of her built works for public and private clients, with sites ranging from beach to desert and from farm to city block.

First published in 1992, Pat Welsh's Southern California Gardening has sold well over 40,000 copies and received great critical acclaim. This completely revised and updated edition includes 40 new color photographs plus new information on perennials, ornamental grasses, geraniums, and more. Monthly chapters discuss relevant gardening topicsclimate, plant selection, soils, fertilizers, and wateringand are accompanied by handy checklists to help gardeners stay organized. An assortment of sidebars and rules of thumb will prove useful to gardeners in any region. Beautifully photographed and written in Pat Welsh's warm and practical style, this is an indispensable guide for every southern California gardener.

The earth is in great peril, due to the corporatization of agriculture, the rising climate crisis, and the ever-increasing levels of global poverty, starvation, and desertification on a massive scale. This present condition of global trauma is not "natural," but a result of humanity's destructive actions. And, according to Masanobu Fukuoka, it is reversible. We need to change not only our methods of earth stewardship, but also the very way we think about the relationship between human beings and nature. Fukuoka grew up on a farm on the island of Shikoku in Japan. As a young man he worked as a customs inspector for plants going into and out of the country. This was in the 1930s when science seemed poised to create a new world of abundance and leisure, when people fully believed they could improve upon nature by applying scientific methods and thereby reap untold rewards. While working there, Fukuoka had an insight that changed his life forever. He returned to his home village and applied this insight to developing a revolutionary new way of farming that he believed would be of great benefit to society. This method, which he called "natural farming," involved working with, not in opposition to, nature. Fukuoka's inspiring and internationally best-selling book, The One-Straw Revolution was first published in English in 1978. In this book, Fukuoka described his philosophy of natural farming and why he came to farm the way he did. One-Straw was a huge success in the West, and spoke directly to the growing movement of organic farmers and activists seeking a new way of life. For years after its publication, Fukuoka traveled around the world spreading his teachings and developing a devoted following of farmers seeking to get closer to the truth of nature. Sowing Seeds in the Desert, a summation of those years of travel and research, is Fukuoka's last major work-and perhaps his most important. Fukuoka spent years working with people and organizations in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States, to prove that you could, indeed, grow food and regenerate forests with very little irrigation in the most desolate of places. Only by greening the desert, he said, would the world ever achieve true food security. This revolutionary book presents Fukuoka's plan to rehabilitate the deserts of the world using natural farming, including practical solutions for feeding a growing human population, rehabilitating damaged landscapes, reversing the spread of desertification, and providing a deep understanding of the relationship between human beings and nature. Fukuoka's message comes right at the time when people around the world seem to have lost their frame of reference, and offers us a way forward.

Sustainable Landscaping For Dummies provides hands-on, how-to instruction for realizing the benefits of a sustainable landscape, from selecting sutainable hardscape materials to installing a rain-water catchment system to choosing native plants.

This working manual provides complete information on the technical aspects of designing, building, and maintaining waterwise landscapes in the Mountain West. Written particularly for professionals, including landscape designers, architects, contractors, and maintenance and irrigation specialists, it has an attractive, well-illustrated, user-friendly format that will make it useful as well to DIY homeowners and to educators, plant retailers, extension agents, and many others. The manual is organized according to landscape principles that are adapted to the climate of the intermountain region. Beginning with planning and design, the topical principles proceed through soil preparation, appropriate plant selection, practicalities of turfgrass, use of mulch, and irrigation planning, winding up with landscape maintenance. Designed for onsite, handy use, the book is illustrated with color images of landscapes, plants, and materials. Tables, charts, diagrams, landscape plans, plant lists, checklists, and other graphic resources are scattered throughout the manual, which is written in an accessible but information-rich style. Water-Efficient Landscaping in the Intermountain West answers, more comprehensively than any other single book, the need for professional information that addresses both growing awareness of the necessity for water conservation and the desire for beautiful, healthy yards and properties.