California Drought

For the first time in 15 years the entire state of California is suffering moderate to extreme drought conditions. Reports of the personal and economic impact on farmers, ranchers, and the people they usually hire are alarming. Consumers will feel the hit at the grocery store as shortages drive prices up.

Gardeners know water is the landscape’s lifeblood. Drought years also pose challenges for the entire nursery industry. Faced with water restrictions, surcharges, and unusually dry conditions, many gardeners struggle with whether to “take a year off” from investing time and resources in their personal landscape. Others would never even consider skipping the seasonal pleasures and satisfaction our gardens offer. We simply adapt and adjust our practices to work with—not against—current conditions.

We’ve gathered the following articles from our online archives; resources, information, and inspiration for California gardeners facing a difficult growing season and waterwise gardeners everywhere.

Nature endures. It is an adaptive, resilient, responsive, and flexible system—a dynamic dance between plants, animals, birds, and insects. And we’re all a part of that wild mix.

• A Colorful California-Friendly Garden
• The Ruth Risdon Storer Garden: Evolution of a Valley-Wise Garden
• The Demonstration Gardens at Falkirk
• The Dry Gardening Handbook (book review)
• Green Roofs: Dry in the Sky
• Arboretum All-Stars: Great Plants for Central Valley Gardens
• The UC Davis Arboretum All-Stars Project

  

• Lush, Colorful, and Waterwise: an Impossible Dream?
• Australian Shrubs
• A Beautiful Landscape for California’s Future
• The Woodside Library Native Plant Garden
• The Changing Western Climate: How it’s Likely to Affect You, Your Garden, and the Climate Zone Maps You Depend On
• Let Nature do the Watering
• (Still) the Land of Little Rain: Mary Austin and the Eastern Sierra
• A Succulent Oasis at Sherman Library Gardens

  

• A Trio of Gardens in Languedoc
• New Palo Alto Demonstration Gardens
• Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens (book review)
• Through the Photographers Eye: Finding a Sustainable Aesthetic
• A Garden of Small Miracles
• Perennial Pleasures

  

• Moorish to Modern: Ancient Lessons for Contemporary Gardens
• California Native Gardening: A Month-by-Month Guide (book review)
• Relishing the Light: Dexter Cannon’s Garden
• Reimagining the California Lawn: Water-Conserving Plants, Practices, and Designs (book review)
• Just Like Olivier
• A Surprising Landscape at Pitzer
• History of the West in an Altadena Garden
• Cacti, Agaves, and Yuccas of California and Nevada
• New Entrance Garden at US Botanical Garden: An Explosion of Arid Exotica
• Our Plant Collection is for the Birds (and Butterflies)
• The Evolution of a Native Garden
• Dewy Daffodils for a Mediterranean Climate
• Dudleyas for the Garden
• Selected Plants for Southern California Gardens (book review)
• California Gardener’s Guide, Volume II (book review)
• The Kobrinsky Garden Experience: A Construction Perspective
• Challenges of Central Valley Gardening