Now is the time for spring gardening preparations if you live in Texas, especially with this weekends forecast of 70-80 degree temperatures! I'm new to gardening myself and found it to be a terribly intimidating undertaking. My mom, a landscaping enthusiast, gave me this book when I moved to Dallas and it's now my gardening lifeline!
Plants of the Metroplex, written by Howard Garrett, uses Garrett's landscape architect experience to provide the "do's and dont's" of planting in Texas climates. Garett outlines what to avoid and what to embrace and I particularly appreciated his cut to the chase tone: Don't waste your money on plants that aren't happy in the Texas heat, try these alternatives instead.
The book includes trees, shrubs, flowers, groundcovers, vines and grasses. It's full of beautiful photos of gardens and landscapes from the DFW area and beyond and isn't the least bit intimidating for even the most novice gardener. I would especially recommend it for people who are new to Texas and are unfamiliar with the climate and various stubborn soils that can make planting so difficult. Not in Dallas? Garrett includes many major cities within this book and has also published Plants for Texas, if you live outside the metroplex. Have fun getting your hands dirty!
Image: morgueFile
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Comments (6)
those are lupines in the picture, right? beautiful!
lesliejb, they look like bluebonnets, aka lupines, the Texas state flower. You can see fields of them blooming in the springtime thanks to Lady Bird Johnson.
I was a fan of Howard Garrett when I lived in Dallas. He's unpretentious and makes gardening fun.
Similar books exist for every region and climate zone. And it always pays to buy locally grown plants that won't keel over with your regional heat/cold issues.
I miss Texas bluebonnets.
There are lupines that grow all over, MontgomerySt, maybe you can find some that work in your area! I just moved from Nevada where there are tiny pale blue ones to California where there are crazy yellow shrub lupines on the coast. You don't have to go without!
Cool! Something specific for us Dallasites!
I wonder to what degree succulents are covered in this book? I love decorating my flower beds with them, but they are real hit and miss in this unpredictable climate here.