Water-Wise Gardening: America's Backyard Revolution

Christopher ( In Search of Lost Roses ) roved around the United States for several years, looking for new ways American gardeners had found to adapt their plots to water shortages; he wrote this book as a consequence. It's intelligent and illuminating. ``I've learned that the need for water conservation has become the driving force of a gardening renaissance,'' Christopher notes, and remarks on the ``extraordinary imaginativeness'' he discovered among those setting out to cope with a limited vital resource. In Texas, as he reports, he spent time with xeriscapers (who organize gardens into areas of differing water requirements, keeping those with high-water demand minimal). In and around Tucson, Ariz., he investigated desert gardening and the innovations made in irrigation systems and native landscaping. In Denver, he looked on as gardeners cultivated alpine plants and flowering ``weeds.'' And in Brooklyn, N.Y., he visited the drought-resistant wildflower garden of Wall Street Journal gardening columnist Patti Hagan. As one might expect, it is the sense of gazing over Christopher's shoulder at all of these spots--and of overhearing the conversations--that intrigues a reader, along with the more practical hope of picking up useful guidance (also answered). Photos not seen by PW. (Feb.)