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9 04, 2021

Living with Wildfire

2025-02-17T13:18:45-08:00Categories: Blog, Climate, Nora Harlow, Fire and Water|Tags: |

The goal of "firewise" landscaping is to reduce the intensity of fire and slow its advance as it nears the house. The basic principles are simple and few. Harden the target by making the house as resistant to fire as possible. Keep the area next to the house free of anything that will burn. Design and maintain planted areas farther out to provide no continuous path for fire to reach the house or move up into the tops of trees. Retain sufficient vegetation to buffer the house from airborne embers. Low plantings and concrete patio next to house

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27 01, 2021

The Many Faces of Summer-Dry

2025-01-25T10:21:03-08:00Categories: Blog, Climate|Tags: , |

Summer-dry climates are not dry climates. They are climates where rain falls mostly in winter. This is not a common arrangement. In most of the world, rain falls in summer or is fairly well distributed year round. Summer-dry climates are usually found on the west coasts of continents in the mid-latitudes where seasonally shifting atmospheric pressure cells block or open up to the jet stream and its storms. The photo above shows a coastal northern California climate in summer. The photo below shows a similar coastal northern California climate in winter or spring. Summer-dry climates vary considerably from one place

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3 02, 2015

Gardening Where You Are

2025-02-13T14:14:03-08:00Categories: Blog, Climate, Garden Where You Are|Tags: , , |

Our recent book As the deadline approached for publication our first book, EBMUD’s Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates, I found myself without an introductory chapter, nothing to set the tone or communicate to readers our intentions for the book. Consumed with a growing sense of panic, I headed off for the southern California desert, where I tend to go when I need to rest and recharge. Staying with a friend in Twentynine Palms, I spent mornings hiking in Joshua Tree National Monument and afternoons on the guest house deck staring at my

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29 09, 2014

A Summer-Dry Aesthetic

2025-01-25T10:20:45-08:00Categories: Blog, Climate|Tags: |

We want to change the aesthetic of what we expect to see in a garden photo in summer-dry climates.  Beautiful photos of beautiful gardens inspire gardeners to mimic what they see. Many photos in garden books and magazines are from East Coast and English style gardens, that, while are certainly lovely in those settings, are wrong in more arid and summer-dry climates.  Water is especially precious in summer-dry climates, lush images from other climates mislead gardeners to try inappropriate and unsustainable gardens. We want to inspire gardeners to choose plants that are water wise and garden styles that fit into the habitats and natural

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