Desert Gardens of Steve Martino
No doubt desert garden enthusiasts will recognize the work of Steve Martino, even if they don’t know his name. Colorful walls, desert natives, and gardens that work with the desert, rather then deny it. When he began his practice, there was little to no recognition of the desert as a desirable garden influence. Martino: “We were working on a townhouse project in Phoenix that was next to a remnant desert lot. We were using all the conventional Mediterranean plants for our project. Looking at the plants that were growing naturally on the adjacent property, I asked, ‘Why aren’t we using those plants, they are growing just on the rainfall while our plants are going to need constant watering and supervision to keep them alive.’ The answer was, ‘Those are just weeds.’ This answer was good enough for the profession, the landscape industry, and the public, but for some reason not for me.”
In Desert Gardens of Steve Martino you’re introduced to his work through the words of the book’s author, then a lifelong friend writes a short forward, finally Martino himself takes over in a chap...
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