Nearly three-quarters of Texans live on the "dry side" of Texas—the South and Central Texas expanse west of I-35, which includes the Rio Grande Valley north through San Antonio, Austin, and the Dallas–Fort Worth area—that receives fewer than 40 inches of rain annually. In Gardening on the Dry Side of Texas, Southwestern horticulturist Mary Irish presents a guide to the selection and care of plants that will be successful in these and other increasingly hot and dry conditions.

Gardening on the Dry Side of Texas opens with a section on garden design; water conservation, capture, and management; and how plants cope in drought conditions. The heart of the book is 180 plant species included for their hardiness in Texas, even amid the challenges of a changing climate with longer and hotter summers, more erratic and less reliable rainfall, and increasingly costly and scarce water. These plants have low to moderate water needs and grow well in both the hot and cold conditions of the region. Most are native plants, with special consideration to those that are also reasonably available to the public.

Many of the species presented will also be useful in the prairie and desert areas of West Texas and beyond, making Gardening on the Dry Side of Texas a valuable resource for gardeners looking to work with their local climate instead of against it.