Dry-Land Gardening: A Xeriscaping Guide for Dry-Summer, Cold-Winter Climates
Offering proof that xeriscaping has escaped its Southwestern confines, this focused gardening guide is specially aimed at northern zones 4 and 5 in Canada and the U.S., where crippling winter cold conspires with dry, windy summers to vanquish visions of English borders and Savannah edens. Dry-land gardens sport an altogether different look: they're brighter and more open, with a predominance of ground covers and ornamental grasses. Bennett (The New Northern Gardener), who gardens on limestone in Ontario, has assembled master lists of perennials, annuals, shrubs, trees and ground covers (including lawn grasses) that will thrive on minimal water. Most compelling, though, are the author's personal reflections and practical advice on watering, i.e., the virtues of rainwater over treated water (it's soft and free); the devil in cold water (for plants, it's harmful, not refreshing); how to read a plant's need for water (wilted by morning, gardeners take warning). Although the title has all the spunk of an agricultural extension monograph, the content's amiably simplicity and immediate usefulness will spur readers to begin disciplining their water-dependent gardens into self-reliance. The rewards are seductive: water conservation for the environment; time and energy conservation for the gardener. Color photos not seen by PW.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.