[.ca] The Undaunted Garden: Planting for Weather-Resilient Beauty (ISBN 1555910076)

golden:
A great book for plant lovers in the high plains, or the high desert. This book contains inspiring photographs and great plant lists (the most valuable part of the book, as these lists are nowhere to be found elsewhere), as well as wise advise from a well experienced gardener. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading nearly every page of this book. On the downside, the plants in the book may be difficult to find, unless you join a rock garden club and grow the plants from seed. I wish the plant portrait section was three times as big. But overall, this book is indispensible.

The Undaunted PLAINS Garden:
I agree with others, lovely prose, lovely photos, good organization. However, if you are looking for a true mountain (high altitude) gardening book, this won't do it. The author is of course speaking of her own experiences but I purchased this book believing it would help me to be a "Colorado Gardener." Not one word on dealing with elk and deer attacks on your plants or that short and really unpredictable growing season above 7500 feet in the Rocky Mountains. This book did make me miss my old mid-Atlantic garden badly!

Superlative!:
I have checked this book out at the public library so many times I wonder if anyone else had a chance! I live at 7300 feet, and appreciate Ms. Springer's attention to our unique weather problems. But I first read the book when I lived at 200 feet, and everything worked for that altitude, too. She advises on those tough places in your garden, like Dry Shade, and includes tons of recomendations on annuals, long blooming perennials, and 'roses for the realist'. You can always get basic gardening advice from those encyclopedia garden books - Ms. Springer shows you how to put plants together for a great look. Her photographs are breathtaking! Do not go another season without purchasing this book!

Great prose, great advice:
Lauren Springer is a gifted writer as well as a gifted gardener. She has a knack for passing on her knowledge in a very interesting way, making the book more than just a plant encyclopedia. In part, this book is a novel about her own garden, but she goes far from her own chunk of dirt to show and describe plants which work in a variety of climates. If there's any one gem I pulled from this book it is to plant the correct plant for the specific micro-climate rather than trying to adapt the micro-climate for the plant you've chosen. This is much easier to do, more rewarding, and requires less maintenance. This book is a good read now, and a good reference for later on.

A wonderfully written, illustrated and presented guide:
In The Undaunted Garden: Planting For Weather-Resilient Beauty, gardening expert offers the novice gardener a wonderfully written, illustrated and presented guide to the art and science of growing and maintaining a lovely year-round garden despite harsh climatic conditions. Here are to be found all the information, guidance, tools, and ideas and inspiration to achieving a healthy garden suited to environmental conditions. Springer's informative and engaging text is enhanced with lists of more than 1,000 attractive, resilient plants; complete and detailed descriptions of 64 especially recommended plants; and more than 250 superb photographs. The Undaunted Garden is a core addition to any personal or community library gardening reference collection!