Gardening in Summer-Dry Climates: Plants for a Lush, Water-Conscious Landscape

by Nora Harlow, Saxon Holt (Photographer)

Overview

Dry summer, wet winter climate? This is your must have plant guide.
 
Selecting plants suited to your climate is the first step toward a thriving, largely self-sustaining garden that connects with and supports the natural world. With gentle and compelling text and stunning photographs of plants in garden settings, Gardening in Summer-Dry Climates by Nora Harlow and Saxon Holt is a guide to native and climate-adapted plants for summer-dry, winter-wet climates of North America's Pacific coast. Knowing what these climates share and how and why they differ, you can choose to make gardens that maintain and expand local and regional biodiversity, take little from the earth that is not returned, and welcome and accommodate the presence of wildlife. With global warming, it is now even more critical that we garden in tune with climate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604699128
Publisher:	Timber Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Pages:	308
Sales rank:	190,196
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Nora Harlow is a landscape architect and gardener with wide-ranging experience in the summer-dry climates of California. She was assistant editor of Pacific Horticulture magazine for many years and supervisor of water conservation for the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland, where she designed low-water landscapes for District facilities. She is the author of Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the Bay Area, co-editor of The Pacific Horticulture Book of Western Gardening, and co-editor of Wild Lilies, Irises, and Grasses.


Saxon Holt is a photojournalist who has spent more than 40 years exploring Kingdom Plantae and the fundamental importance of plants to the health of the planet. A lifelong gardener, he abandoned commercial photography when he discovered garden publishers and could no longer stay in a studio. His work has been featured in diverse publications, from Architectural Digest and Pacific Horticulture magazine, to Smithsonian and Money magazines.

Table of Contents

Preface 6

Gardening Where you are 8

The Summer-Day Climate 15

Summer-Dry Climates of the Pacific Coast 17

Origins of the Pacific Coast Climate 21

Topography and Climate 23

Climate Zones and Vegetation 27

Plants for Summer-Dry Climates 30

Some Thoughts on Design 34

Summer-Dry and Winter-Wet 39

Climate Trends and Water Supply 40

Wildland Invaders and Garden Thugs 49

Living with Wildfire 53

The Carbon Capture Garden 57

Soil as Ecosystem 60

Embracing Wildness and Change 63

A Compendium of Plants for Summer-Dry Climates 66

Plants for Special Places 262

What Plant Where: A Guide to Plant Selection 274

Reading and Resources 286

Index 289

Editorial Reviews

05/18/2020

Landscape architect Harlow and photographer Holt, coauthors of Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Region, team up again for a comprehensive guide to gardening on the west coast of North America. They address the unique gardening calendar set by the region’s dry summers (“plant mostly in fall, less often in spring as most of the world does”), as well as the challenges of weather (primarily the “seasonality of precipitation”), climate, and topography in gardening zones “from British Columbia to Baja.” Design suggestions address problems of drainage and runoff, outline ways to harvest rainwater, advocate for “firewise” landscaping, and promote soil health. The bulk of the book is a catalogue of plant recommendations, including perennials such as yarrow, annuals such as clarkia, trees such as California buckeye, succulents such as aloe, shrubs such as manzanita, and vines such as bougainvillea, with notes on origins, descriptions, watering, drainage, and light exposure. For green thumbs living along the Pacific Coast, this specialized and thorough manual will educate, enlighten, and inspire. (June)

Publishers Weekly

The authors’ gentle plea to welcome a little wildness into our gardens is a timely and powerful message for all gardeners and landscape designers. Make room on your shelf for this beautiful new book.”—Carol Bornstein, director of the Nature Gardens, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
 
“An outstanding and beautiful contribution to horticultural literature on summer-dry gardening along the West Coast and beyond.”—Bart O’Brien, director, Regional Parks Botanic Garden
 
“With stunning images and insightful text, Harlow and Holt ask us to embrace and celebrate our dry season with grace.”—David Fross, owner, Native Sons Wholesale Nursery

“The authors’ clearly written text and Holt’s detailed and stunning photographs combine to create an informative guide for gardeners who hope to cultivate a lush landscape that minimizes their footprint on Garden Earth.” —The Oregonian

“A highly valuable guide to plants and planting design that would be useful in many regions of the country.” —Landscape Architecture
 
“From shrubs and flowers to succulents, grasses, and herbs, this book packs in all the recommended hardy plants a gardener could want. This makes it a snap to not just choose the best plant, but incorporate it into the right landscape choices.” —Donovan’s Bookshelf

From the Publisher

Read More