This is a great resource. Each plant has a photo, icons showing what wildlife it helps, growing information and more. The book points out that the region is incredibly diverse in growing conditions and the plants vary in where they are best suited.

I wish the photos showed both a close up (what most of the photos are) and a photo of what the plant looks like in its entirety for garden planning. I would also appreciate the addition of zone information. That said, it’s a thorough and helpful book.

I read a temporary digital loan of this book via netgalley.

This is an incredibly informative and beautiful guide to gardening in the Southwes! The photographs are amazing and the descriptions of the different regions and plants was so helpful! I live in New Mexico and attempt to have a native garden. This is a must have for Southwesterners who want to grow a sustainable and beautiful garden. I loved this! Will highly recommend!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

a huge thank you to netgalley, authors and the publisher, for allowing me to read an advanced reader copy of this beautiful book in advance - reviews are my own however.

it’s full of information and as a born southwest native the beautiful photos and descriptions made me want for my childhood home and natural plants. this book was a really neat thing to read and learn about the plants of the southwest united states.

This is a fantastic book in every respect. It contains a wealth of useful information, wonderful photographs, clear and useful writing that goes far bey0ond mere instruction and plant identification. It explains very well all aspects of the geography it discusses, the ecological importance of using native plants and how to select the most appropriate ones for a given garden, as well as techniques for design, watering and planting a native plant garden.
The only (very minor) criticism I have is that the title doesn't make it clear that this is a book for gardeners and landscape designers, not (just) a guide for plant identification, which is what I originally assumed it to be.
The takeaway: if you have access to a piece of land in the Southwest and want to make it into a beautiful and ecologically valuable garden, you will find everything you need and more in this book.