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24 04, 2023

Is It Okay to Feed the Birds?

2025-02-22T15:45:12-08:00Categories: Garden Design, Garden Where You Are|Tags: , , , , |

Birds are what bring a garden to life and gardeners have always known this. We plant fruit-bearing shrubs and trees as much for the birds as for our own enjoyment. Bird houses and bird baths are ubiquitous features of home gardens. Many if not most of us also set out food for birds at backyard feeders. Bird bath in habitat garden that provides nectar, seeds, and insects for birds Bird populations have been in sharp decline for decades, a result primarily of habitat loss and pesticides. Yet we often hear that feeding wild birds can make things

23 07, 2021

The Carbon Capture Garden

2025-02-22T17:49:07-08:00Categories: Climate|Tags: , |

Carbon capture is widely viewed as a promising means of slowing global warming by reducing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, one of a number of gases responsible for trapping heat and warming the earth’s surface. Carbon dioxide produced by industrial processes can be captured at its source and injected underground. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is naturally taken up by plants, which transform the gas into a form that can be stabilized and stored in soil. Carbon capture is maximized by a diverse planting of deeply rooted trees, shrubs, and perennials, minimally pruned, with no pesticides and soil left undisturbed

9 04, 2021

Living with Wildfire

2025-02-22T18:05:35-08:00Categories: Climate, 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

3 02, 2015

Gardening Where You Are

2025-02-22T16:02:04-08:00Categories: 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

29 09, 2014

Drought Tolerant is Irrelevant

2025-02-22T15:55:14-08:00Categories: Fire and Water|Tags: , , , |

All plants are drought tolerant in their native habitat and no plant can live without water. No matter where a garden is located, the tropics or the desert, the plants in that garden should naturally tolerate periods of lower than average water.  They may thrive with supplemental water during dry periods but the term “drought tolerant” can be very misleading, especially in summer-dry climates.

29 09, 2014

A Summer-Dry Aesthetic

2025-02-22T16:06:26-08:00Categories: Garden Design|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

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