TAYLOR’S GUIDE TO GARDENING IN THE SOUTHWEST...

TAYLOR’S GUIDE TO GARDENING IN THE SOUTHWEST edited by Roger Holmes and Rita Buchanan (Houghton Mifflin: $18.95, illustrated) and PAT WELSH’S SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GARDENING: A Month-by-Month Guide by Pat Welsh (Chronicle Books: $19.95, illustrated). With the arrival of summer, home owners begin to daydream about lush beds of exotic flowers and apartment dwellers wonder what will grow on a balcony already crowded with bicycles and barbecues. Welsh’s informal how-to guide focuses specifically on plants and techniques suitable for the various microclimates within Southern California. Her practical, month-by-month approach makes the book easy to use, and reading it is like chatting with a knowledgeable neighbor. June garden jobs include planting bougainvillea and perennial morning-glories, dividing irises and fertilizing citrus trees. (Explanations of how to perform these tasks are highlighted in colored passages.) The more encyclopedic “Taylor’s Guide” provides a useful photographic survey of the plants most commonly grown in Southwestern gardens, including native species, with general notes on their care. The brief introductory essays point out that the area’s growing population is placing increasing demands on a finite water supply, and that large verdant lawns may no longer be practical: The oasis gardens cultivated in other Mediterranean climates offer a more sensible alternative. Both of these attractive books belong in the library of the novice green thumb.