Books for the Tucson Gardener
The bookstores are full of gardening books and magazines that offer information and gardening ideas. Selecting a book that relates to Tucson's desert gardening isn't always easy when so many of the writers live and garden where there's plenty of rain and snow.  Don't be discouraged in your search for useful garden reference material because there are books written with the Tucson gardener in mind. 

Don't be surprised if you find newer editions or a different publisher of some on these books in your favorite bookstore or garden center. Books like Sunset's Western Garden Guide get updated every few years with lots of new, useful material added.

Blast Furnace Rose Gardening - A comprehensive guide to growing eye-popping roses in Tucson's difficult soil and weather conditions
By The Rose Society of Tucson
Revised 1996
Whether you want to grow Hybrid Tea, Floribunda or miniature roses this little book will help you learn to cope with Tucson's weather and soils. A group of Tucson's rose aficionados have gotten together and shared their expertise in planting, propagating, fertilizing, pest control and just about everything else including drying, arranging and exhibiting your roses.

If you've never grown roses in Tucson but want to give it a try, this is the place to start - before you buy that first rose bush.

The Complete Book of Cacti & Succulents - The definitive practical guide to cultivation, propagation, and display
By Terry Hewitt
DK Publishing, New York, New York.
Even if you don't believe the book is really "complete" it's still a nice collection of photographs and information about cacti and succulents from around the world.

(In the acknowledgments there's a Tucson connection mentioning Bach's Cactus Nursery, Chuck Hansen at Arid Lands and Jane Evans at Plants for the Southwest nursery. Tucson seems to be a cactus Mecca.)

Desert Trees; Desert Shrubs; Desert Ground Covers and Vines; Desert Grasses; Desert Accent Plants; Desert Wildflowers; Desert Bird Gardening; Desert Butterfly Gardening
Arizona Native Plant Society

Each of the eight booklets with their concise information and colorful pictures will help a desert gardener learn how to use both native and non invasive introduced plants to make the perfect desert garden that looks good and conserves water.

Any of the publications can be order directly from the Arizona Native Plant Society by going to their Web site and printing out an order form.

Desert Gardening - Fruits and Vegetables, The Complete Guide
By George Brookbank
Fisher Books; Tucson, Arizona.
If you've lived in Tucson for a while you may have seen Brookbank on television, read one of his columns in the Tucson Daily Citizen or talked to him when he was an extension agent for the University of Arizona.

Brookbank writes from desert gardening experience and covers every thing from planting seasons, soil improvement, plant varieties to when things go wrong in the garden.

A Desert Gardener's Companion
By Kim Nelson
Rio Nuevo Publishers, Tucson, Arizona.
Master Gardener Kim Nelson has written a week by week gardening guide that covers a little bit of everything. If you like to read and don't need photographs of someone's  gardening success to inspire you, then a Desert Gardener's Companion fits the bill.

Each month has a short checklist of gardening to do's. There are no garden related photographs but a few nice illustration's by the book's designer Paul Mirocha.

Desert Landscaping - How to start and maintain a healthy landscape in the Southwest
By George Brookbank
The University of Arizona Press; Tucson, Arizona.

This time Brookbank provides a month by month maintenance calendar and information on soil, watering, pruning, insects and diseases. Both of Brookbank's books are illustrated with black & white photographs taken in the Tucson area.

Gardening in Dry Climates
Ortho Books.
Ortho produces a complete line of trade paperbacks covering a variety of gardening topics.

The books' information and color photographs that illustrate their publications come from a wide variety of sources.  Gardening in Dry Climates covers watering, soil prep and provides a useful plant selection guide.

Landscape Plants for Dry Regions
By Warren Jones and Charles Sacamano
Fisher Books, Tucson, Arizona.

This heavily illustrated guide points the Tucson gardener to plants that thrive in dry climates. Each plant is listed with information on cold hardiness, landscape value, cultural requirements and possible problems the plant might cause or encounter in the landscape. If you're just starting out with a new landscaping project this would be a very good guide to over 600 species of trees, shrubs, groundcovers, vines and succulents.

Plants for Dry Climates - How to Select, Grow & Enjoy
By Mary Rose Duffield & Warren Jones
Fisher Books, Tucson, Arizona.

If you're looking for trees, shrubs, and groundcovers to landscape your yard this book will give you a comprehensive listing along with a photograph of each specimen. Not only do you get a planting guide but there's also a reason for not planting some plants. A good resource for Tucson gardeners written by a landscape architecture and a former University of Arizona landscape architecture instructor.

Plant Propagation - The fully illustrated plant-by-plant manual of practical techniques
By Alan Toogood
DK Publishing, Inc., New York, New York.

If you've ever had the desire to start your own plants from seeds, cuttings, air-layering, root division, or grafting, this is the one book to own.  The photos are outstanding as is all the useful information including an alphabetized listing of plants and the best methods for propagation. A simple guide indicates whether the plant is easy, moderate, or down right challenging to propagate.

(In the book's acknowledgements there's a Tucson connection with Miles Anderson of Miles' to Go Nursery.)

Pruning, Planting & Care - Plants for the Arid West
By Eric A. Johnson with Scott Millard
Ironwood Press, Tucson, Arizona 

Need help with figuring out your type of soil, how often to water and how to take care of your maturing plants? Then you might want to take a look at Eric A. Johnson's Pruning, Planting & Care geared toward plants for desert gardens. There are pointers on planting, watering, fertilizing and staking. Over 300 varieties of plants are listed (some with drawings of plants, no photographs) with emphasis on their garden use and subsequent plant maintenance. 

Sunset Western Garden Book 
Sunset Publishing Corporation; Menlo Park, California.

This book produced by the same people that publish the monthly Sunset Magazine has long been the bible for gardeners in the west. Covering everything from climate zones to a comprehensive plant encyclopedia this would be a first choice when starting a garden book library. Paperback editions bindings have a tendency to deteriorate with use.