Good garden design is the result of proper planning. It doesn´t happen by magic.

Gardeners are easy to please when it comes to gifts. They like practical things-from gardening books and supplies to gardening software. I´ve tried the following, and highly recommend all of the following.

Garden troughs and other planters are excellent choices for cacti and succulents.

In recent years garden troughs and hypertufa containers have become popular. Here´s a book that will help you make your own.

While some garden books give advice on growing cacti and succulents, others offer inspiraton for those designing cacti and succulent gardens. Here are some books with wonderful design ideas.

The New Year often brings a crop of garden catalogs with a number of these offering seeds or plants of cacti and succulents.

Many people give books or music for holiday gifts. It's hard to go wrong when you choose books. Stores have lots of titles on every subject from which you choose.

Fragrance is a wonderful feature of some cacti and succulent flowers. Here are just a few of the ones that are known for their sweet scents.

Plants have many interesting features, and each of these contributes to the overall beauty of the specimen. Most often we might think of leaves and flowers, but the form or growth habit can also make a species really attractive.

"Florilegium Imperiale-Botanical Illustrations for Francis I of Austria" by H. Walter Lack will be of particular interest to cacti and succulent lovers.