From The Mercury News
Posted on Sat, Dec. 10, 2005
By Holly Hayes
Gorgeous book showcases native plants, offers advice for growing them
This has been a great year for books about California native plants, with several new titles tempting gardeners with lush photos as well as dig-in-the-dirt practical advice.
But fans of native gardens should save room on the bookshelf for one more.
``California Native Plants for the Garden,'' published by Chachuma Press of Los Olivos ($37.95 hardcover, $27.95 paperback), is a stunner and comes at just the right time to stoke the growing interest in these beautiful, water-wise garden gems.
The new book has 450 color photos that will show even skeptics that natives can bring eye-popping color, sensuous texture and dramatic effects to any size garden, whether it's an expansive but challenging landscape in Lafayette or a charming walkway at a Berkeley cottage.
Opening chapters offer a short history of California native plant horticulture and descriptions of the various plant ``communities'' within the state: chaparral, coastal scrub, grassland, woodland, forest, desert scrub and desert woodland.
There are tips for designing a native garden, with particular attention paid to sustainable, low-impact design that uses minimal resources and creates minimal waste. There are suggestions on how to entice birds, butterflies, lizards, beneficial insects and other critters into the garden. And several pages are devoted to how to prepare the site and choose and care for native plants.
But by far the most useful aspect of this handy book is the ``plant profiles'' section that takes up the bulk of its pages. Starting with abutilon palmeri (commonly known as Indian mallow) and ending with the zauschneria species (California fuchsias), each entry has a photo along with a well-written description of the plant and its light, soil and water preferences. Notes about the plant's natural habitat and geographic zones also are very helpful.
A shorter section is devoted to native annuals, which range from the elegant clarkia amoena (commonly called farewell to spring) to the beloved helianthus annuus (sunflower) to the fluttery stylomecon hererophylla (wind poppy). There also are a few pages devoted to bulbs.
List lovers will want to turn to page 216, where there are compilations of plants that are allergenic, deer resistant, good for espalier or ground cover, poisonous, frost tender, resistant to oak root fungus and other special considerations.
Finally, there is a very useful roundup of public gardens in California that feature native plants and many good sources, from nurseries to seed producers.
The three authors of this marvelous new resource are California horticulturists who have championed the state's native flora:
• Bart O'Brien is the director of horticulture and curator of the living collection at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont. The former president of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society is a fifth-generation Californian and a recognized authority on native plants here and in northern Baja California.
• Carol Bornstein is the director of living collections and nursery at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. She is an innovative designer who has introduced new cultivars.
• David Fross is the founder and president of Native Sons Wholesale Nursery and also teaches horticulture at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.
Author chatsThe book ``California Native Plants for the Garden'' (Chachuma Press, 280 pp., $37.95 hardcover, $27.95 paperback)
The co-authorBart O'Brien
When5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17
WhereCubberly Community Center Room H-1, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
How muchFree (books will be available for purchase)
DetailsKevin Bryant at (650) 691-9749
AlsoCo-author David Fross will discuss the book at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 21 at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Wildcat Road and South Park Drive, Berkeley, details at (510) 841-8732; and 3 p.m. Jan. 21 at Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave., Berkeley, details at (510) 704-8222. Other readings and author appearances are scheduled in the Bay Area in February and March.
Read more about this wonderful new book in a San Francisco Chronicle article from Feb 18, '06