#4 on Publishers Weekly's Bestselling Gardening Books list! This new, completely revised edition has over 500 new photographs, 400 new illustrations, 400 new plants and trees, the latest pest control recommendations, fruit and vegetable recommendations, new tips and plants specifically for Southern Texas, plus everything in the first edition.
Compost your old "complete" gardening guide. There's a new way of gardening in Texas that's healthier for people and the environment, more effective at growing vigorous plants and reducing pests, cheaper to maintain, and just more fun. It's Howard Garrett's "The Natural Way" organic gardening program, and it's all here in Texas Gardening the Natural Way. This book is the first complete, state-of-the-art organic gardening handbook for Texas. Using Howard Garrett's new mainstream gardening techniques, Texas Gardening the Natural Way presents a total gardening program: How to plan, plant, and maintain beautiful landscapes without using chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides. Gardening fundamentals: soils, landscape design, planting techniques, and maintenance practices. Includes more native and adaptable varieties of garden and landscape plants than any other guide on the market. Trees: 134 species of evergreens, berry- and fruit-bearing, flowering, yellow fall color, orange fall color, and red fall color. Shrubs and specialty plants: 85 species for sun, shade, spring flowering, summer flowering, and treeform shrubs. Ground covers and vines: 51 species for sun and shade. Annuals and perennials: 136 species for fall color, winter color, summer color in shade and sun, and spring color. Also seeding rates for wildflowers. Lawn grasses: 10 species for sun and shade, with additional information on 16 native grasses, seeding rates for 32 grasses, and suggested mowing heights. Fruits, nuts, and vegetables: 58 species, with a vegetable planting chart and information on organic pecan and fruit tree growing, fruit varieties for Texas, grape and pecan varieties, and gardening by the moon. Common green manure crops: 29 crops that help enrich the soil. Herbs: 66 species for culinary and medicinal uses. Bugs: 73 types of helpful and harmful bugs, with organic remedies for pests, lists of beneficial bugs and plants that attract them, a beneficial bug release schedule, and sources for beneficial bugs. Plant diseases: organic treatments for 55 common problems. Organic methods for repelling mice, rabbits, armadillos, beavers, cats, squirrels, and deer. Organic management practices: watering, fertilizing, controlling weeds, releasing beneficial insects, biological controls (including bats and purple martins), and recipes for Garrett Juice, fire ant control drench, vinegar herbicide, Sick Tree Treatment, and Tree Trunk Goop. Average first and last freeze dates for locations around the state. Organic fertilizers and soil amendments: 61 varieties, including full instructions for making compost. Organic pest control products: 30 varieties. Common house plants and poisonous plants. Instructions for climbing vegetable structures and bat houses. 833 gorgeous full-color photographs.
A comprehensive field guide to the wildflowers of the Lone Star State In Wildflowers of Texas, Michael Eason describes and illustrates more than 1,100 commonly encountered species, both native and introduced. The book is organized by flower color, with helpful color coding along the page edges making it easy to navigate. Each profile is illustrated with a color photograph and includes the plant’s Latin name, family, common name, habitat, bloom time, frequency of occurrence, and a short description of the plant’s morphology.
Think of Doug Welsh’s Texas Garden Almanac as a giant monthly calendar for the entire state—a practical, information-packed, month-by-month guide for gardeners and “yardeners.” This book provides everything you need to know about flowers and garden design; trees, shrubs, and vines; lawns; vegetable, herb, and fruit gardening; and soil, mulch, water, pests, and plant care. It will help you to create beautiful, productive, healthy gardens and have fun doing it. Writer, educator, and broadcaster Doug Welsh gives a wealth of practical gardening advice in this book. Encouraging us to “think like a plant,” Welsh holds pruning school in February, conducts a lawn clinic in April, builds a perennial garden in September, and shows us how to grow fresh vegetables for Thanksgiving. Yet this barely scratches the surface of all that is offered in this comprehensive, fun-to-use guide. With colorful and instructive illustrations and helpful information boxes, plant lists, charts, sidebars, and tips, the book is written in the engaging, conversational style that anyone who has listened to Welsh’s radio show will recognize. Whether your passion is roses or green beans, wildflowers or trees, reading this book is like having a personal garden consultant and friend at your side. Doug Welsh’s Texas Garden Almanac will inspire you throughout the year and make you more eager than ever to get out into your garden.
In this updated 2nd edition of Texas Fruit & Vegetable Gardening, you'll find much-needed advice and practical tips on growing an edible garden, no matter which part of The Lone Star State you call home. Growing in Texas isn’t easy. It’s either too hot, too cold, too wet, or too dry. The state ranges from a cold winter climate in the north to an almost tropical one in the south. And it goes from very alkaline limestone soils in the Hill Country to extremely acidic soils in East Texas. That's why this region-specific garden guide is a must-have for every Texas gardener! Seasoned horticulturist, conservationist, garden writer, and seventh-generation Texan Greg Grant simplifies the ins and outs of Texas gardening and serves as your guide to success. Regardless of whether you're tending an in-ground plot, a small container garden, or a series of raised beds,Texas Fruits & Vegetable Gardening is an invaluable resource. From soil preparation and starting seeds to fertilizer tips and techniques for safely managing Texas's most troublesome vegetable garden pests, you'll find all the answers you're looking for. Inside, you'll find detailed profiles of over 60 edible plants that thrive in Texas's distinctive growing conditions, including favorites like cantaloupe, tomatoes, collards, summer squash, okra, and pomegranates. In addition to vegetables and fruits, also featured are popular herbs and even edible nuts. Helpful charts and planting graphs keep you on track, while the garden maintenance tips found throughout ensure a lush, productive, and high-yielding garden. Regardless of whether you're a first-time grower or an experienced Master Gardener, the modern varieties and well-researched gardening information found here will have you going from seed to harvest with confidence and know-how. Texas Fruit & Vegetable Gardening is part of the regional Fruit & Vegetable Gardening series from Cool Springs Press. Other books in the series include CaliforniaFruit & Vegetable Gardening, Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Gardening, Carolinas Fruit & Vegetable Gardening, and many others.
Texas Month-by-Month Gardening, the companion to Texas Getting Started Guide, presents a month-by-month breakdown of what to plant, when to plant, and how to take care of it in order to have a beautiful Texas garden year-round.
Texas hosts an unparalleled number of butterfly species, and whether one lives near the beaches of the Gulf Coast or in the mountains of the Trans-Pecos, all Texans can enjoy the color and tranquility that butterflies bring to any outdoor space. In Butterfly Gardening for Texas, author and expert Geyata Ajilvsgi shares a wealth of practical information about all kinds of butterflies and the many flowers and other plants they utilize in their miraculous life cycle: from hidden egg to munching caterpillar to cryptic chrysalis to nectar-sipping, winged adult. Written in an engaging, nontechnical style for anyone who wants to attract butterflies to the yard or garden, the book provides tips for making gardens caterpillar- and butterfly-friendly, in-depth profiles of more than fifty butterflies, descriptions of the food plants for a variety of both caterpillars and butterflies, and plant lists for easy selection and substitution, depending on where you live and what is available. For those who want specific advice on what to plant where, Ajilvsgi has designed useful, adaptable landscape plans and extensive planting options for each of seven state regions. Helpful appendices aid gardeners in taking photographs of the butterflies they attract, in locating sources for seeds and plants, and in finding organizations and other instructive publications for additional information about these beautiful and beneficial insects. As the popularity of butterfly gardening continues to increase, gardeners of all skill levels will find Butterfly Gardening for Texas an invaluable source of guidance and inspiration.
