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I’ve been pursuit Noelle Johnson’s informative and entertaining garden blog, AZ Plant Lady: Ramblings From a Desert Garden, for increasingly than a decade. As a horticulturist and landscape consultant in Phoenix, Noelle is an validity on native and desert-adapted plants suited to her hot, well-worn climate. Her website engages with lovely photos of her own colorful garden as well as others virtually town, and she’s generous with maintenance tips. I imagine these are expressly useful to people who’ve relocated to the Desert Southwest and are wondering how in the heck to create a climate-resilient garden.
And now Noelle has packaged her vast wits and knowledge well-nigh desert gardening into typesetting form! Dry Climate Gardening: Growing Beautiful, Sustainable Gardens in Low-Water Conditions comes out in March and is misogynist for pre-order now. I received an whop reprinting for review and was pleased to write an endorsement for it:
Noelle’s typesetting uproots all the stereotypes of gardening in an well-worn or semi-arid region. Instead of expanses of waddle and cactus with a few wearisome clipped shrubs, she shows just how colorful and plant-rich — yet waterwise — a dry garden can be, while walking the reader through the practicalities of smart plant selection and maintenance. Everyone who relocates to the Desert Southwest, or who wants to refresh their yard to meet the challenges of climate change, should get this typesetting and read it imbricate to cover.
I’m expressly excited for Noelle’s typesetting considering her region, like my own here in Texas, is sorely underrepresented in magazines, books, and online. Not only that, gardening in a desert climate is a completely variegated wits than gardening somewhere increasingly temperate. The plants are different. The seasons are different. The soil and plane the sunlight are different. Noelle proves to be an spanking-new guide in helping any dry-climate gardener icon it all out.
While the typesetting isn’t aimed at a Central Texas regulars (we’re not a desert climate), there’s some overlap in terms of unrepealable plants, like the purple trailing lantana and Pride of Barbados pictured above. And as our climate grows hotter, we would do well to squint westward for planting strategies and species tolerant of both heat and drought, while stuff mindful of our possible deep freezes and drought-busting floods. West Texans, meanwhile, will find much of the typesetting directly relevant to their low-water gardens.
Photo credit: All photos by Noelle Johnson from Dry Climate Gardening
Disclosure: Cool Springs Press sent me a reprinting of Dry Climate Gardening, and I reviewed it at my own discretion and without any compensation. This post, as with everything at Digging, is my personal opinion.
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Come learn well-nigh garden diamond from the experts at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added. You can find this year’s speaker lineup here.
Make plans to shepherd the Budding Out Plant Sale & Festival on March 18 at the John Fairey Garden in Hempstead, TX. Rare and distinctive plants will be offered, as well as art, ceramics, jewelry, food, drink, music, and other entertainment for the whole family. Members have early wangle and get in free. Non-member ticket is $5. Children 12 and under are free.
Experience the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden, an enchanting neon-art exhibit throughout the gardens, with supplies and drink, music and dancing, surreal performers, and interactive art sculptures. Surreal costumes encouraged! 25% of event proceeds goody the Zilker Botanical Garden Conservancy. Runs April 6 (VIP Night), April 7-8, and April 13-15, from 6:30 pm to 11 pm.
All material © 2023 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
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