A design-focused, easy-to-use guide to colorful, eye-catching foliage and flowers for your whole yard, from the ground plane to the canopy, for homeowners and landscapers faced with replacing thirsty gardens in California and other dry regions in the Western US.

If readers must reluctantly remove water-guzzling favorites from the garden, they need equally beautiful substitutes! This book is a visual treat that supports the transition to dry gardening by proving that gardeners can have all the gorgeous color and flowers they had in the past using just a fraction of the water.

Maureen Gilmer provides chapters on design categories of plants-flowering shrubs, the ground plain, eye-catching accents, ephemeral flowers, perennials for color, animated plants and fine textures, canopy, and edibles-with profiles for each plant plus background info and top picks lists.

The Colorful Dry Garden is unique because it features only bold plants that are also heavy bloomers despite heat and limited water. It also features more than just Western native plants by including varieties from the world's driest climates.

MAUREEN GILMER has over thirty years' experience in landscape design and has written 18 books on gardening. She has practiced in northern and southern California, at the peak of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Newport Beach for exposure to a wide range of climates. She currently resides in the high desert.