Product Description

The first complete gardening book to cover the hot, dry, desert and plains areas of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming, Idaho, Montana. Topics include: extensive plant lists for all areas, hardscape ideas using rock and wood, where to find garden art and how to use it to create your own regional aesthetic, as well as hundreds of practical suggestions to overcome the challenges of gardening in the Intermountain West.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #307572 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
"At last, a book that really captures the essence, spirit and beauty of intermountain gardening." -- David Salman, High Country Gardens

"I am amazed at the bold scope of Cutting Edge Gardening in the Intermountain West." -- Nina Williams, Country Living Gardener

"Marcia's entrancing prose and Charles's stunning images have captured the best of horticulture in the Rocky Mountain region." -- Panayoti Kelaidis, Denver Botanic Gardens

From the Publisher
Gardening is different in the Intermountain West. Veterans and newcomers alike will find valuable gardening information in this book. With anecdotes, humor, and a wealth of good advice, Tatroe shows us how to create some of the most exciting and innovative gardens in America today.

From the Inside Flap
There is never a dull moment in the Intermountain West. One day is sunny and bright and the next it is snowing. Gardening in such a land of extremes is different; but it doesn't have to be difficult. Based on twenty years experience transforming an ordinary suburban yard into a diverse and colorful garden, and a career designing resHiidential and commercial landscapes, author Marcia Tatroe helps veterans and newcomers alike make sense of this region's unique conditions and the opportunities they present.

Customer Reviews

Best Book To-Date For The Cold Western United States
Marcia and Charles have produced a wonderful regional gardening book that is everything such a book should be--chock full of hard-won wisdom about the best plants to grow and beautiful photography to illustrate the plants and their region, the Intermountain West. Gardeners in Boise, Denver, Flagstaff, Pueblo, Taos, Santa Fe, Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, Provo, Cedar City, Reno, Elko, Moscow and other cities throughout the cold winter climates of the western United States (and the corresponding parts of China, Iran and the steppes of Asia) will all draw inspiration. Marcia's humorous anecdotes about her experiences and tribulations in her gardens entertain and inform as she describes hundreds of species of plants in rock gardens, perennial gardens, integrating cacti, proper use of shrubs, roses and much information on uses of garden ornaments. Charles' brilliant photography of plants, landscapes and gardens blends seamlessly with Marcia's text and Marcia's husband, Randy, also contributes some exceptional photography of the Tatroe garden. Please, take a drink from this firehose of a gardening book. You will learn something new from each page.

Innovative, Authoritative, and Lavishly Photographed
In a more perfect world, a great many more gardens in Denver, Santa Fe, Reno, Boise, and Salt Lake City would resemble the gardens featured in Cutting Edge Gardening in the Intermountain West. As water becomes more costly in the West, we can expect many thousands of square feet of bluegrass to be ripped out and replaced with more water-wise plantings. Cutting Edge Gardening in the Intermountain West shows us what to plant where all that turf used to be. This is one of those rare garden books that is so completely invested in the region it covers that it is almost a gardening book in disguise. The photography dances between stunning landscape shots (one of Charles Mann's photos frames a wide vista of chamisa and asters) and more traditional--yet equally vibrant-- garden photos. Beyond the photos, Marcia Tatroe proves a capable and passionate Virgil, sharing her hard-earned knowledge of xeriscape design freely. This book veritably bulges with lists: whether you want to know about rock garden plants, perennials for shade, or signature trees of the region, you'll find a corresponding list. Cutting Edge Gardening in the Intermountain West is an essential book for anyone considering making a garden in this region--put it on your bookshelf between Lauren Springer's The Undaunted Garden and Jim Knopf's Xeriscape Flower Gardener.

Rocky Mountains
The high and DRY (read little humidity) Rocky Mountain region is totally different in horticulture than the majority of the USA. This book really does a fine job of telling what plants will grow here and how to create micro climates in a garden to accomplish different landscaping roles.
It is an excellent book and I would recommend it highly.
Forty years ago, in Boulder, CO (elevation 6,000 feet), I created a wonderful garden on the south facing outside wall of a long white brick office. For 10 years something bloomed in that garden every month of the year! Often it was only early December or late January but something bloomed--even when there was 2 feet of snow nearby.
This book gets into the trials and tribulations of Rocky Mountain Gardening and the pictures are also wonderful. Wonderful book.