Hardy Succulents: Tough Plants for Every Climate

I bought this book when it was just published, as, living in the Upper Midwest, I'd been looking for a good treatment of the subject for quite some time. Well... I'm still looking. The title is just a flat-out lie as the author's experience is pretty much limited to Colorado which is significantly drier than the Eastern US - a unique climate that is no way representative. The glossy artistic photo on the cover is also misleading. The pictures within are postage-stamp sized "voucher" images. That's what naturalists call an image sorta good enough to say yeah that's probably the species, but not good enough to publish.

I've learned, from living in the desert that "hardy" is a relative term. Most succulents are hardy down to freezing, but here in Reno we get much colder winters. The book is lovely, and I would recommend it, just don't take the term "hardy" to literally.

We live on a glade (i.e. very rocky terrain) so I got tired of always having to water plants till I saw blue in the face (probably more like piping red hot) during drought periods, so this book was so helpful in how and what I might plant to create a desert garden. The photos are glorious and shows you how beautiful these plants can be. Even if one just wants to create a planter with them. It is a book you may really want to own so every once in a while you can still go back to it.

I'm obsessed with succulents or chicken and hens is what we call them where I'm from..this is a great book that gives information about popular ones..its not what I was looking for but still neat to have.

If you're in Zone 7 or colder & tired of the "same ol', same ol' and want to expand beyond petunias, marigolds, snapdragons, & begonia's (yes, I know, they are lovely), this is the book for you. I, personally, am much heavier into cacti, but this covers them all! And certainly help you if you want to "specialize" -- or not! There are a LOT of plants out there, you poor folks of the colder climes, that you can grow -- most without any fancy/special protectors. And it's nice to look @ SOMETHING during the Winter, especially if there's no snow covering that bare ground! This is the book -- written by a person of long experience with Cold, with great pictures from many of the Cold-Hardy growing community of the Colorado area!

One of the best books on hardy succulents I've seen. I needed this for my garden library but felt a used book would do. To my surprise, I received a book in crisp new condition at a reduced price. Very pleased.

I was hoping this book would be a guide to growing cactus but it did not contain information that I needed. The varieties I purchased were not covered or the methods in which to plant. Possibly useful for others, recommend reading prior to purchase to plan the garden.

I purchased this publication because our summers were becoming hotter and dryer and our plants and shrubs that generally grow in zone 6 were not making it even with daily watering. I am looking toward planing more succulents that I noticed survived all summer and winter with no problems and looked just as lovely as the day I planted them years before.

Only 2 stars as the book is mis-named. If you want to classify your succulents this is not for you. Very nicely illustrated and has some pretty,unusual projects, but only for those who already know their plants. Will keep as a coffee table book.

Very informative I'm new to Succulents and am growing them in pots outdoors. I found out the best Hardy ones - I didn't think they could be grown indoors!I had always thought of cacti as spiked/dusty plants, that old ladies doted on! - but no so!I have go about ten containers and all plants are flourishing,. The best part is you don't have to babysit with them - they look after themselves with all their babes!!!!

All good in the end

Great book

ok