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Have you ever planted a beautiful, and expensive, shrub in your yard and watched it slowly die because it was in the wrong location? Not enough light, too much water, improper soil, or too hot an exposure can turn the nursery-perfect specimen into an eyesore. This all-in-one guide helps you beautify your yard, not with high-maintenance imports, but with native plants adapted to your local growing conditions. Whether as a foundation hedge, mass planting, or accent shrub, native species can provide year-round beauty to your yard. While the interest in native-plant landscaping and xeriscaping (sp?) has mushroomed, the necessary "how-to," "when-to," and "what-to" has been slow in coming. In this comprehensive, richly illustrated guide, George Oxford Miller describes the best of the best. Covering wildflowers, shrubs, trees, vines, cacti, and groundcovers, the book selects the species that combine ornamental qualities, growth habit, adaptability, and year-round beauty for the highest landscape value. Chapters with photos, maps, charts, and design samples provide guidelines for species selection and planting, ongoing maintenance, landscape design, and water and energy conservation. Plant descriptions and photographs provide detailed habitat requirements for each and illustrate how each plant looks and responds to landscape conditions. New and experienced gardeners alike will find the facts and advice needed to choose the plants best adapted for their particular landscape design. The unique botanical heritage of Texas provides a treasure chest of choices for home and commercial landscaping. The ornamental beauty of our native species and the economic advantages of using plants adapted to the local climate have demonstrated that the best for our yards sometimes comes from our own backyards, often literally as urban sprawl creeps across the prairies, hills, and forests of our state. But perhaps most importantly, using native plants encourages the repair and preservation of natural plant communities and the wildlife they shelter.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Web site, May 2006 (circ. unavailable)

“George Miller offers the definitive guide to choosing the best of the best among Texas’ native plants.”                                                                                                                                                   

Houston Lifestyle & Homes, April 2007

“Author George Oxford Miller will teach you how to successfully incorporate local plants into your landscape.”

 

The Monitor (McAllen TX), May 12, 2006 (circ.: 50,000, also online)

“This seems to be the only guide you will need to earn that ‘yard of the month’ sign by the 4th of July.”

The Bryan-College Station Eagle (Bryan, TX), May 12, 2006

“I applaud Miller’s effort to get gardeners to push the envelope on landscaping flora, and I like the way the 192-page softcover book is organized … Also worth noting: Special lists near the front of the book