The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for Cultivating a Sense of Place
America and her citizens have been described as bold, inventive, exploratory and independent. Such strong attitudes and personality attributes have helped place us at the…
Topics: Perspectives
Sweet Meadows
I stepped off the road into the meadows. Quickly knee-deep in a green sea, I was bathed in a sweet fragrance that rose not from individual flowers but…
Encyclopedia of Northwest Native Plants for Gardens and Landscapes
This massive volume is a must-have for those serious about growing native plants (and strong enough to lift it). While the authors suggest it is…
Cacti, Agaves, and Yuccas of California and Nevada
Many of our regional cacti, agaves, and yuccas have proven themselves worthy of cultivation in a container or in a garden landscape and are sure to ad…
(Still) The Land of Little Rain: Mary Austin and the Eastern Sierra
More than a century later, the threads of literature, nature, and environmentalism are woven together in a seamless dialogue in this country. But it w…
Fire and Ice in a Southern California Garden
The year 2007 was an odd one for Southern California: a severe freeze in January, extreme heat in late summer, and fierce fires in October. Just a few…
Roots Demystified: Change Your Gardening Habits to Help Plants Thrive
We all know that there are roots beneath a plant, and we have a vague mental image of how they must look. We also know…
Fragrance in Wild Western Gardens: Irises
In California, the best smelling wild irises are to be discovered from around San Jose northward to Laytonville (in Mendocino County), or Garberville …
The Self-Sustaining Garden: The Guide to Matrix Planting
One of the most important garden books I’ve ever read was Peter Thompson’s The Looking Glass Garden: Plants and Gardens of the Southern Hemisphere (Timber…