Gardener's Guide to Cactus

Zusatztext “It offers a clear! helpful! well-­presented text.” — New York Times Book Review “An outstanding volume that is both beautiful and useful.” — Booklist   “A totally amazing and really fun book.” — Garden Rant “Scott shares his love for desert plants and the knowledge he’s acquired planting! selling! and designing with these plants for years…Scott’s book provides cultural information in an easy-to-use structured layout.” — Pacific Horticulture   “Has a little something for every garden—but it’s not overwhelming.” — Su Casa   “Gardeners new and old will close this book with an arsenal of ideas on how to take their cactus cultivation to a new level.” — Terrain   “More than a primer! this useful guide provides cultivation tips for practiced gardeners.” — New Mexico Magazine   “Scott’s firsthand knowledge and experience of working with these plants shines.” — Danger Garden   Informationen zum Autor Scott Calhoun is an award-winning author and garden designer based in Tucson! Arizona! where he lives with his wife and daughter. In his design practice! he incorporates cactus into every residential space and sees them as the plant family of the future—especially in arid parts of the world. Calhoun is the author of six gardening books. His work has earned an American Horticultural Society Book Award and a Garden Writers Association Silver Book Award. He writes a monthly garden column for Sunset magazine and has written for most national gardening magazines. Klappentext At last: a book that shows readers just how easy, hardy, and rewarding cactus can be for everyone--not just specialists. Succulent plant expert Calhoun picks 100 of the best cacti available and shows how they can make striking additions to any garden or serve as dazzling container specimens. Preface If you think of cactus solely as plants confined to rock-strewn deserts, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover that several species of cactus grow in the steppe climate of the short-grass prairie, happily sidling up to grama grasses. I have always admired cactus for their anthropomorphic qualities. They have spines, we have spines, and like us, many species have bodies, joints, and even ear- and arm-like appendages. More than twenty years ago, when I began designing my first garden, I considered the members of the cactus family solely as accent plants—to be used here and there as curiosities, but rarely more than that. Oh, how my perspective has shifted!                      Over time, cactus and their succulent cousins have moved to the center of my garden design universe. In gardens, cactus stand as living sculptures that get more and more interesting as they mature over the decades. They form the prickly heart of some of the most interesting gardens in the world. Designs peppered with cactus have become my new design paradigm. To boot, these designs are of the very most water-thrifty and undemanding sort. Especially in terms of water, cactus ask little of their keepers. I started substituting cactus in place of thirsty and finicky perennials, seeking out the most garden-worthy specimens—plants with red spines, thatches of needles, and brightly colored flesh. The longer I kept cactus, the more I appreciated them; they are exceptionally venerable plants. Many species are so long-lived that prized plants can be passed down from one generation to the next.             As I explored the many excellent field guides and technical botanical tracts that treat the cactus family, it occurred to me that the literature remarked little about the garden-worthy attributes of the plants in the family. I became convinced that the aesthetic and sensory qualit...

Product details

• Authors: Scott Calhoun, Scott D. Calhoun
• Publisher: Timber Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.01.2012
• EAN: 9781604692006
• ISBN: 978-1-60469-200-6
• No. of pages: 228
• Dimensions: 206 mm x 230 mm x 15 mm
• Subject: Guides > Nature > Garden