Laurel Busch, Gardener: Gardening in Northern Nevada

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Gardening in Northern Nevada

My Favorite Garden Books

Western Garden Book: The Right Plants for Your Climate (Sunset Western Garden Book)
It definitely deserves its title of the "bible of Western gardening," and it's the first place I check when I'm thinking about buying a new plant. The latest edition contains encyclopedic entries for more than 8,000 plants. You can buy it on Amazon.com for about half what Sunset charges directly (and buy used copies for even less).

The Inward Garden: Creating a Place of Beauty and Meaning
By Julie Moir Messervy
The author thoughtfully and thoroughly explains the creative process she uses to create gardens that suit her clients' personalities. She says we all feel comfortable in places that feel like places we loved as children and tells us in detail how to recreate these places in our gardens. Reading the book helped me realize why I had to add a screen to our patio before I felt comfortable on it and see that other people prefer the open spaces I avoid.

Best Tools and Equipment

Goatskin gloves—Soft and flexible even after getting wet. Tough and long lasting.
Hula hoe—For scraping off weeds while they're small.
Child's plastic snow shovel—For scooping spilled soil, fertilizer, etc. off a flat surface.
Pointed shovel—My husband made mine for me from a round shovel; I don't know why I don't see them in stores and catalogs. Because I can push it down with my foot, it's the only tool I want to use for digging holes in dry clay and digging up long-rooted weeds.
Kitchen scissors—For deadheading old flowers and cutting off last year's perennial growth if it's not too tough. Often easier to use and work better than pruners or garden shears.
Your hands—Sometimes your gloved hands are more efficient than any other tool for breaking off dead flower stalks, branches, and so on.
Power tools—Argh! Argh! Argh! Life is too short to try to keep a half acre under control. I use an electric hedge trimmer for pruning (on appropriate plants), clearing paths, and cutting off last year's perennnials. I use a small electric chain saw for light pruning.

What to Do about Weeds

Helpful Websites for Northern Nevada Gardeners

Sunset
Even if you don't buy their book, you can get a lot of information here. Try out the plant finder!

UNR Cooperative Extension

Truckee Meadows Water Authority Water-Efficient Landscape Guide