The New Low-Maintenance Garden: How to Have a Beautiful, Productive Garden and the Time to Enjoy It Paperback – November 1, 2009

There are many books on this subject and I own a lot of them. I decided on this one because of the word "new" in the title; curious to know how we can do low maintenance differently. I was not disappointed. The information is presented in an easy to read format that describes gardens around the country with different zones and varied concepts. Each story is accompanied by good pictures to further explain and to inspire. Depending on the needs of the garden owners, the story may focus on less plants/more hardscape or more foliage/less flowers; but each story explains how that garden was successful. At the end of each section, the author sets out a great list of resources to further your education: books, videos, websites.Throughout the chapters there are recommendations on how to incorporate sustainable aspects in your garden; how to attract wildlife; how to enjoy your garden without spending hours working in it. The format is great. You can view just the pictures and associated text and learn a lot; the main text is divided by gardens so it is easy to flip around if you want to read about your type; and the writing is well written and informative--specific plants are recommended in each topic to help with pulling together the "look". This is one of the best garden books I've purchased to date -- it has inspired me to complete my one acre garden -- believing that it can be maintained without hours of daily work.

The quality of the writing in this book is excellent, and it has a lot of helpful information and inspiring ideas and photos. Unfortunately, it is not a pleasure to use the book because of the lousy Chinese print job. I hope the authors are listening so they don't ruin their next book.The font is TERRIBLE and makes reading difficult and irritating, something the reader is unable to forget during the entire reading experience. Therefore, reading is not a relaxing, enjoyable experience. I guess the publisher saved two cents by using a font so small, light, and annoyingly "delicate" that it uses less ink. You almost need a high-powered magnifying glass to read the photo captions.The photos are unpleasant to view and actually look much better on Amazon's "Look Inside" viewing option. I'm not a pro photographer, so I don't have the technical language, but I'll try my best. The photos are dark, muddy, and are not crisp and clear, making it difficult to discern all objects in the photo. The pages have a "glare" to them, so the reader must constantly shift the book to attempt to see each entire photo. The paper has a weird, slightly "sandy" feel to it, which I believe has something to do with a coating that makes it difficult to see the photos.Finally, the printing on each page in the bound area starts and/or ends too close to the binding, again necessitating endless shifting of the book to read it. Or the reader could keep pressing hard on the binding to attempt to flatten the book to read it better, although this will quickly destroy the glued (not sewn) binding, causing the pages to fall out and the book to fall apart.Suggestion: Bring those printing jobs back home to the USA and do it right the next time. Let the Chinese spend more of their time killing us with melamine-laced human and pet food, and creating clothes with material so thin you're embarrassed to wear them to the office and have to watch them fall apart after a few cleanings.

I was the gardener who would wander with a new plant purchase in hand, trying to figure out where to put it. Despite my love of plants and enjoyment of gardening, the large border garden in front of my house was scraggly in spots, overgrown in others, often weedy, and just plain incoherent. This book changed all that. It taught me to ruthlessly cull plants that were doing well but didn't thrill me, along with those that weren't flourishing, and those that were taking over, to create a well-edited garden that can be enjoyed in multiple ways.I first read the whole book not long after it was published and then revisited it in early spring for the next couple years. I just got it out again, thinking of a friend who is planning a yard renovation after retirement. On re-reading the first couple of chapters I realize just how much I absorbed from this book and how helpful it's been.Some reviewers complain that the book doesn't give plant recommendations for their areas or that the style of gardens in the book doesn't suit them. I see this book as providing a very practical foundation for the layman. There are many good books on garden style and plant selection. My garden is a mostly native xeriscape, and I used the books "The American Meadow Garden" by Greenlee, "Plant-Driven Design" by Ogden & Ogden, and a couple plant reference books for my state for style inspiration and plant information. But I could not have done it without The New Low-Maintenance Garden.

Although my husband is an avid gardener, he has been quite frustrated since we moved to Southern New Mexico, having to learn to cope with not just the heat and dry conditions, but also "high" desert (above 4000 feet) growing conditions. Having grown up in California where you can grow everything it seems, then moving to the mountains of Oregon and the foothills of the Colorado Rockies where limited to some things he could still grow fantastic gardens every spring thru fall, he was finding himself extremely upset every summer when the weather really turned HOT and DRY in our new home. This book was a fantastic find as it helped immensely in finding plants that could tolerate the extremes in our weather (we also have to contend with freezing temperatures in the winter). Although written for those who want a beautiful yard and garden but not the work that often goes with it, it still has tons of information that is great to know. A definite needed reference book for all gardeners.